


Zombie on (you've got a zombie in me)

by Zarhara



Category: Teen Wolf (TV), The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Blood and Gore, But not really though, Canon up until shortly after the Hale fire, Don't worry, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Character Death, Slow Build Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Spark!Stiles Stilinski, Werewolves, Zombie!Scott, or as happy as it can be given the circumstances, pregnant!Allison
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-08
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2018-08-29 22:35:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 34,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8508145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zarhara/pseuds/Zarhara
Summary: Over the sound of his own frantic breathing he could hear groaning coming from the other side of the door. Feet being dragged slowly across the floor, and the guttural groaning was the only sounds indicating that someone else was out there.
It could be one of the patients or some of the staff that had somehow been injured, but there was an equal chance that whatever was on the other side of that door was whatever had the military showing up, evacuating everybody, and shooting all over the place. It could easily be whatever had made all of those soldiers so scared. 
Or; Stiles is left alone with his dying mom just as Beacon Hills is overrun with the previously unknown plague. As zombies dominate the town Stiles is forced to grow up way to quickly, but a pack of newcomers, interspersed with a couple of familiar faces, shows Stiles a part of life he thought he had completely forgotten.





	1. The beginning of the end

**Author's Note:**

> Hi :)
> 
> I've been writing this story for even, and finally reached the conclusion that I should actually post some of it... so here it is. I hope you like it, and feel free to leave comments and kudos. There will be more chapters, which will hopefully be much happier and fluffier than this one. It's not supposed to be a sad fic, despite the whole zombie thing. 
> 
> I just have two exams left, and then I'll have a free week where I can finally buckle down and get some writing done. The next couple of chapters are already done, so those should be up before too long. 
> 
> P.S I do not give permission for anyone to share this work on other sides or with third-parties :)

__“Do you have to go? Why can’t you stay here with us?” Stiles asked his dad, with tears streaming down his face. Any other eleven year old, might have shied away from crying in the publicity of the local hospital, but not Stiles. He had been crying too much during the last few hard months for something like that to matter in the slightest. __

__“I have to go Stiles, it’s very important. I don’t know all the details yet, but soon I’ll be back with you and your mother. Don’t worry, in a few days you can pick me up at the airport, and we’ll drive straight to the hospital to visit her, okay?” Stiles’ father John whispered, kneeling in front of Stiles. __

__Stiles nodded his head mutely, wiping the sleeve of his shirt across his face. He felt his dad place a quick kiss on his forehead, before telling him to go annoy the nurses or find his best friend Scott. __

__He nodded again and moved towards the canteen, where he knew that Scott would most likely be drowning himself in pudding cups. After a couple of steps, he looked over his shoulder to see Melissa, Scott’s mom, and a nurse at the hospital talking to his dad in hushed whispers. His dad looked pained as Melissa spoke, but his expression was what his mom, Claudia, liked to call “the stubborn face”. __

__Stiles sniffled quietly, before sneaking closer to the two arguing adults. He hid behind the nurses’ desk; out of sight but able to hear their conversation. __

__“She might not make it John! Granted she has been doing better, but you would still be away for at least a week. You can’t just leave her here because of some police conference, you can’t leave Stiles. Not now!” Melissa hissed, pointing a lecturing finger in John’s direction. __

__Stiles’ dad sighed and rubbed a hand over his face “Believe me I don’t want to leave either, but this thing, whatever it is, it’s big. It’s important. The doctor said that Claudia is doing much better than expected, so please just take care of her for me? Take care of stiles for me until I come back?” __

__Melissa looked like she was close to tears as she nodded, and Stiles nearly missed it when she said ‘yes of course I will’. It was almost drowned out by the sound of his own frantic heartbeat beating in his ears. __

__His dad placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, before walking towards the exit, tipping his sheriff’s hat in a friendly gesture to a couple of nurses on his way out of the building. Only when he could no longer see his dad did Stiles allow himself to make any sound, close to sobbing once again when he understood Melissa’s words. His mom might not make it. She might never get any better. She might die while his dad was on the other side of the country. __

__He jumped slightly when he felt warm comforting hands pull him from his hiding place, but quickly turned and clung onto Melissa as she embraced him. They sat there for some time while Melissa whispered apologies and comforting words to him. Finally, Melissa stood, grasped Stiles’ hand and pulled him towards his mother’s room. __

__“See honey, she’s fine. She’s just sleeping because all the medication is making her so tired. I’m so sorry that you heard that conversation. The doctor says that she’s doing better, but I’m just worried. You know me, I worry over everything. I’m a real worrywart.” She said with a small smile, and Stiles remembered all the times Scott had complained about his mother worrying over nothing. He offered a small smile in return, and climbed into the chair Melissa offered to him. He wasn’t allowed to sleep in the bed besides his mom. The doctors told him it was because she needed the space and that he could accidentally touch something he shouldn’t have, but Stiles knew the truth. He knew that his mom could wake up at any moment and not remember who he was or think that he was dangerous. __

__Melissa tucked a blanket around his body, and handed him his beloved pillow. She kissed his forehead much like his dad had done before she let herself out of the room, turning of the light and casting the room into darkness. __

***

__His dad had been gone for two days when Stiles was startled awake from his usual sleeping place in the chair next to his mother’s bed. He hadn’t left the hospital at any point, he hadn’t had a reason to. His school was closed because of some outbreak of influence or bird flu or something. Stiles hadn’t really been paying all that much attention. __

__There were people running past the door to the room, shouting intelligible words at each other. Stiles assumed that there had been an accident on the freeway or something similar, right up until the power cut out. __

__The light in the room had already been turned off so that Stiles would be able to sleep, but the light from the hospital corridor that had functioned as his nightlight was now out as well. Darkness filled the room, and Stiles could only barely see the bed where his mother lay in the light of the moon. All of the machines places next to the bed, which had been beeping and flashing with differently colored lights, were now eerily quiet and black. Stiles had had nightmares about seeing the machines like that, with doctors swarming into the room, suffocating him. This was just a power outage he had to remind himself. __

__As his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room, he realized that his mother had woken up. The yelling and people sprinting past the door had probably done it. He hesitated from where he sat in his chair, not sure if he was allowed to move any closer. On a good day, she reminded Stiles of one time she had been sick with the flu. She had been tired and pale, but still herself. On a bad day… On bad days Stiles weren’t allowed near her. __

__He sat there staring for some time, until he noticed the tears that were streaming down his mother’s cheeks. It spurred him into action and he quietly stood from where he had been sitting and slowly walked over to the bed. After only a couple seconds of hesitation he grasped her hand in his, aware on how thin and fragile she seemed. __

__“Mom?” he asked, voice wavering with emotion. __

__She gave him a small smile, and he could see in her eyes that she was herself. This was one of the good days; despite the pain, he could see on her face. He noticed her cracked and dry lips, and reached for the water he knew was on her nightstand. She drank gratefully, and ran thin fingers through his hair, scratching gently at his scalp, as she always used to do when he was sick or sad. __

__“Thank you, sweetie” she rasped out, and Stiles couldn’t remember the last time he had heard her call him that. __

__When he turned to the nightstand to set down the now mostly empty glass of water, it almost slipped from his hand as he heard gunshots coming from outside the hospital. He placed the glass on the table, out of his mother’s reach, and hurried to the window. He grabbed the white curtain and pulled it aside, allowing even more moonlight to enter the room as he carefully climbed unto the windowsill. It took him a moment to make sense of what he was seeing. __

__The entire area in front of the hospital, including the parking lot, were milling with people. Stiles saw some of the nurses and doctors help children and elderly into ambulances, school busses and even just regular minivans. __

__Soldiers were also at the scene, standing out in their camouflage and military uniforms. They were trying to make a barricade between the hospital and all of the people. Stiles couldn’t see what they were trying to keep away from all of the doctors and nurses as they loaded vehicle after vehicle, but it must have been bad, given how much they were shooting. __

__He pressed closer to the window trying to get a better look at what was going on. That way he could determine if he should remain where he was or try to get his mother out of the hospital and somewhere safe. A commotion on the wrong side of the barrier caught his eyes, and he saw Scott and Melissa, easily recognizing Scott’s dark mob of hair from where he was sitting in one of the ambulances. Melissa was standing in front of him, clearly arguing with one of the soldiers, if her angry gestures where anything to go by. She slapped the soldier, and even though Stiles’ couldn’t hear it, it must have been hard to award the quick turning of his head. It allowed Stiles to see her face properly, and he could see from the redness that she had been crying. __

__Almost as if by chance she turned her head and caught his eyes. She screamed his name, but the sound only vaguely reached him. The soldier she had slapped seemed to have recovered from the shock of his because he picked her up, with arms around her waist and forced her into the ambulance with Scott. __

__Stiles swallowed thickly and turned to face the bed once more. His mom had closed her eyes, and he could see her chest rising and falling with each irregular breath. He ran to her side, sneakers squeaking on the linoleum floor. __

__“Mom? Mom! MOM” he yelled, shaking her shoulder, while taking her pulse the way Melissa had taught him. She wasn’t responding, she wasn’t waking up, but she was still breathing. __

__Over the sound of his own frantic breathing he could hear groaning coming from the other side of the door. Feet being dragged slowly across the floor, and the guttural groaning was the only sounds indicating that someone else was out there. It could be one of the patients or some of the staff that had somehow been injured, but there was an equal chance that whatever was on the other side of that door was whatever had the military showing up, evacuating everybody, and shooting all over the place. It could easily be whatever had made all of those soldiers so scared. __

__Stiles swallowed the lump in his throat, looked over his shoulder to where his mother was lying painfully still, and made his decision. Quietly, as to not arouse any further attention to himself, he carried the chair towards the door, trying to make it go under the handle, when something pushed against the door. He let out an involuntary squeak and pushed back against the door, but quickly realized that is was a lost cause. Whoever was on the other side of the door was much stronger than Stiles, and they really wanted to get into the room. __

__A bloodied arm managed to wedge itself in between the door and the doorjamb, moving wildly and without purpose. Stiles moved as far away as he could while still being able to lean all of his weight against the door, trying to keep it closed. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the blood, and the way it slowly dripped onto the floor, one drop at the time. Stiles could hear a muffled wheezing groaning sound right next to his ear, and slowly turned his head in the direction of the sound. He almost jumped away from the door, as he took in the person standing on the other side of the door through the door’s small glass window. __

__The man looked like no other that Stiles had ever seen. His teeth where almost grey, but covered in blood as he snapped them in Stiles’ direction, clearly not caring that he was smashing his head into the thick glass. His skin was as grey as his teeth, and looked torn apart in places. His eyes were what scared Stiles the most though. The pupils were small, but the rest of the eyes held no white, only a sickly yellow with thin streaks of dark brown. __

__Somehow, Stiles managed to get the chair to sit under the doorknob, but he could see that it wouldn’t last for long. Turning on his heal he ran over to his mother, wishing he could lock the both of them in the bathroom, but he knew that only the nurses had the key so that his mother couldn’t go in there and hurt herself. __

__As gently as possible, he picked up her small form, aware that it should have been much more difficult for him to carry her. He told himself that it was the adrenalin that gave him the extra strength he needed, rather than admit to himself that she hadn’t been eating anything for far too long. __

__At a loss for what to do, Stiles simply stood with her, until she became too heavy. He backed towards the window and sank onto the floor, cradling her protectively. It should have been the other way around, but she was sick and now he had to be strong for her. He had to be the adult, when she couldn’t. He didn’t dare check for a pulse. He already knew. She had been too still for too long; her erratic breathing had stopped filling the room minutes ago. __

__Stiles sat, his back against the wall, desperately holding her close to his chest, heart beating franticly, but he didn’t once look towards the door. His eyes where fixed on her pale face, that looked almost peaceful. He brushed one brown lock of hair away from her face, and wept. __

__When the door was finally opened, the chair practically skidded across the floor coming to a stop near one of Stiles’ outstretched legs. There were more people now, all standing in the doorway, slowly moving forward. Stiles kept his eyes on their shuffling feet. It sounded like they were sniffing the air, and it made Stiles hold unto his mother even tighter. It was almost as if they couldn’t see him, like they couldn’t figure out where exactly he was. __

__He could see into the corridor now, past the wall of legs. He could see one of the nurses staring at him with shocked eyes, clearly dead, while two people were tearing his skin apart, eating him. Stiles averted his eyes when they started eating from the nurse’ head, making his face completely unrecognizable. __

__These __things __they wanted his mom. It didn’t matter to him at that time that they probably wanted him just as much as his mother. His mom was all that mattered. He couldn’t let her end her life that way. She deserved more. She deserved a proper funeral; she deserved to remain human, to be recognizable. Even if she hadn’t been in her last days. She deserved to be untouched by this ugliness and the abomination that these creatures were. She had had enough ugliness bestowed on her already. Life had not been kind to her in the end, and he would be damned if death should be just as cruel to her. __

__As he looked at the creatures approaching, he felt something he had never felt before. It was undefinable, but it glowed within him, sparked by his terror, his anger and his grief. __

__“Leave us alone! Leave her alone! LEAVE US BE!” Stiles screamed, before curling even further around his mom, sobs racking his entire body. __

__When he looked up, the creatures had stopped their approach. They were looking at him almost curiously, before they left the room. Two on them fell on the dead nurse, while the rest continued down the hallway. __

__Stiles looked at his mother, and he cried. __


	2. Zombie Town

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi :) Here's another chapter... I hope you like it.  
> It might be a bit (a lot) long, and a bit much like a filler, but after this chapter the story takes off. Well, not that much, as there is not yet ay plot in this fic's future. Sorry :) 
> 
> Comments and kudos are appreciated :)

Stiles awoke slowly, stretching his arms out from underneath the warmth of the many blankets he had piled on top of himself during the night. The room was completely dark, with only the barest glimmer of light entering the room from between two of the venetian blinds that had been damaged for as long as Stiles could remember. 

As he fumbled his hand around, trying to find the switch to his night lamp, head still buried under the covers, his hand came into contact with something familiar, cold and strangely soft. 

“Hi Scott” Stiles mumbled, half-asleep, hand still searching for the switch. When he found it, the light clicked on after a couple of seconds as it usually did. It always took some time for the generator to start up. 

Scott stood by the side of the bed, groaning as Stiles blinked his eyes repeatedly to get used to the sharp light. The pale skin and dark blue veins of Scott’s wrist was the first thing Stiles saw, when his eyes had adjusted. He blinked twice when he saw the tattered piece of clothing in Scott’s hand.

“Dude! This is like the second shirt this week. How the hell did you tear it that much?” Stiles asked, as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed, taking the aforementioned garment out of Scott’s cold hand. 

“Dddog” Scott groaned, to which Stiles rolled his eyes. Scott always wanted to play with the dogs, even though they would never let him near them. He studiously ignored Stiles’ cautionary words, and approached the animals anyway. 

Scott shuffled backwards allowing Stiles to stand from the bed, and once again stretch his stiff limbs. “Okay let me see it” Sties glared at his friend when he didn’t get a reaction. “Those are police dogs Scott, I know they must have managed to do some damage if your shirt looks like that, so let me see” Stiles said, crossing his arms over his chest in an effort to get the point across. Evidently it worked, because Scott huffed and pulled his ‘new’ shirt over his head. 

Stiles quickly assessed the damage, keeping a tally of the slowly dwindling medical supplies in his head. He placed his hand carefully on Scott’s abdomen, where the dog had managed to sink its teeth in. The pale skin of his hand a stark contrast to the grey hue of Scott’s undead skin. It had been a long time since Stiles had payed attention to things like that. When Scott had somehow found his way back to Stiles, even after being evacuated, it had been quite a shock to see him like that. Stiles had a nagging suspicion that Scott had tried to rescue him, to bring him to whatever safe place had been created, and had been bitten for his troubles. 

When Stiles had first seen Scott stumbling his way towards town, clothes torn to pieces and with ash grey skin, Stiles had fallen to his knees. After burying his mom, he had been practically alone for five years before Scott had managed to find his way back to Beacon Hills. At that point in time he had no idea whether or not Melissa was still alive, or if it was her death that had driven Scott to go back home to Beacon Hills. Scott had looked a lot different than when Stiles had last seen him; not only on account of him being bitten, but also because he was so much older than he had been when he had been shoved into an ambulance during the evacuation. However, there hadn’t been any doubt in Stiles’ mind that it was Scott. His eyes were still the same. Most infected had yellow or sickly grey eyes, but Scott still had his beautifully recognizable dark brown eyes. He still had his crooked jaw. 

Defeated, he had kept kneeling on the ground, waiting for Scott to get closer. There had been a whisper of doubt, not about his identity, but about whether he would treat Stiles like the other zombies and simply ignore him for the most part. Scott hadn’t been in Beacon Hills, when whatever made Stiles uninteresting to the infected happened, and Stiles hadn’t been sure if Scott was equally effected by it. By the time Stiles had decided that standing, so that he could run away if the need arose, was a good idea, Scott had already been by his side, clumsily kneeling before putting his arms around Stiles. 

“’Tiles?” Scott groaned, snapping Stiles back to reality. “Yeah, sorry! I just disappeared in my own thoughts for a few minutes there. Come on, let’s get you all patched up”.

They moved slowly throughout the house, Stiles turning on the lights as they went. Finally, they made their way to the bathroom, where Scott sat down on the toilet without having to be asked. After Stiles rummaged a bit in the cabinet he found the first aid kit, from where it had been pushed to the back. It had been a long time since either of them needed stiches. 

Scott’s torso was covered in stiches, from where Stiles had sewn him up over the years. Some of the stiches, from when he was still inexperienced, were clumsy and used up too much threat, but Stiles could track his own progress on Scott’s chest. By now, his stiches were neat and efficient, much like the ones he remembered Melissa doing at the hospital, or whenever he and Scott got into too much trouble when they were younger. 

Stiles made quick work of the stitching and pulled Scott’s shirt down over his head, to spare him the difficulty. Scott patted his hand in thanks and moved towards the stairs. He had had problems with stairs in the beginning, and other obstacles in general, but it seemed that over time he had regained some of his old fluency when moving. Stiles had no idea why. None of the _others_ seemed human to that extent. Scott had even managed actual words, enough at least that he could tell Stiles that Melissa was still alive.

Scott was already standing by ‘The Armor’ as Stiles called it, when he too had forced his tired limbs down the stairs. The armor was something that Stiles had created when Scott first came to Beacon Hills, a little over two years ago. Stiles knew, already back then, that humans could be just as dangerous as infected, so he raided the elementary school. They had had a medieval theme at the time of the evacuation, and Stiles borrowed one of the more authentic armors so that Scott would have some protection whenever they had to move outside the relative security of the city borders. The armor had been so big on Scott’s fit, but skinny, frame that Stiles had managed to squeeze a bulletproof west underneath as well. He knew all of the security codes to the sheriff’s station; it was always his mother’s birthday. 

He had spent the first two years after his mom died, trying to make the town safe and sustainable. It had involved a lot of cars being moved to use as barriers, and just as many accidents involving said cars, as a result of Stiles not being able to drive. 

Almost without any thought Stiles grabbed the can of bright red paint standing by the foot of the armor, ready to freshen up the words he had painted on it, but the words were still easily distinguishable. The text ‘Don’t shoot, I’m friendly’ followed by a smiley stared back at Stiles. Normally the paint on the armor would take the brunt of Scott’s trips into the surrounding woods, whether it was human inflicted or caused by an unlucky animal trapped in one of Stiles’ homemade snares. The undamaged paint marked how uncannily peaceful the past months had been. 

Stiles helped Scott into the armor, taking extra care to place the helmet on his head. He looked utterly ridiculous, but Stiles would rather have him look ridiculous than endanger him in any way. He knocked on the helmet, laughing when he heard Scott’s indignant sound. There most likely wouldn’t be anything dangerous out in the woods, well not dangerous for Scott anyway, but Scott was the only family that Stiles had left. 

“I checked the snares and the barrier along the west side of the town yesterday, so you can take the east side today, okay buddy?” Stiles asked, while overlooking the city maps spread out over the kitchen table. The helmet creaked when Scott nodded his head in confirmation. Stiles let him out of the house, knowing that Scott still wasn’t able to use ‘twisty’ doorknobs even after two years of trying. 

After Scott had left, Stiles fixed himself some breakfast and ate it in front of the television. There was nothing on, but he quickly decided on a trip to the local movie store to pick up some more DVDs. The bookshelves, lined along the walls of the entire room, were overflowing and a mix of both movies and books, but some still remained at the actual store. 

When he was done with breakfast, he cleaned of the plate, and set it aside on the counter rather than place it in the dishwasher. He could usually make do with only one plate per day. That way he wouldn’t need to check the generator as much as if he was careful about how much electricity he used. Granted the generator hadn’t had any problems since he last fixed it four months ago. 

He pulled on his overcoat, along with his scarf and his gloves and slammed the door behind him, not bothering to lock it. He took the steps down from the small porch in small jumps, trying to get some warmth into his body to fight against the burgeoning winter. 

“Hi Mrs. Carrol” Stiles yelled at his neighbor, who was standing in her front yard clad only in her dirty and blood covered bathrobe. She groaned in response, which still made the hairs on Stiles’ arms stand on end. Compared to Scott’s, her groan was empty and deep. He picked his bike up from the ground and started towards the school, yelling a ‘goodbye, nice talking to you’ over his shoulder. If Mrs. Carrol answered at all, Stiles was too far away to hear it. 

The wind was biting against his cheeks and he kept his head down in an effort to get some warmth from his scarf. He preferred the bike, to any of the many cars he had available. He had finally learned how to drive, when he turned thirteen, two years after his mother died, but he knew logically that he should be saving gas. He had siphoned most of the gas from the cars creating the barrier, that was keeping the town safe, but he never knew if or when gas would suddenly be needed. His mom’s blue jeep was left untouched in their garage. He could cope with having to ride a bicycle. After all, Scott had to walk everywhere. 

Stiles’ first stop was the school, since he needed to make sure that none of the infected had somehow made their way inside. When he arrived at the school, he noticed that the principal was still standing around outside the building, which was good sign that there hadn’t been a breach. The last time Stiles had neglected to properly secure the school the infected had found their way in and wreaked havoc on everything he had managed to build inside. 

He hastily closed the door to the main entrance behind him, when he heard the principle start to shuffle slowly towards the open doors. No doubt attracted by the smell of something alive. Something that wasn’t Stiles that is. 

As he walked down the now familiar corridors of the school, he made sure to check that every classroom was secure before moving on. It took time, but it was important. Stiles had managed to block of most of the classrooms, using almost every table and chair in the entire school to keep the infected out. He had focused on the classrooms that had huge glass windows. Those windows had been a pain, since it was way too easy for the infected to enter the school that way. 

When he finally reached the cafeteria, he quickly unlocked the door and pushed his way inside. As always, his heart started beating a bit faster with pride when he surveyed the room. It had taken years, and one not so minor incident with the infected, before the place was finally finished. 

He had cleared the entire cafeteria, and constructed different animal pens that each contained some of his rescues. Stiles had quickly come to the realization that he needed to be able to maintain a steady supply of food. Within the first week of this new world, Stiles had taken his bike out to some of the surrounding farmland, thanking his lucky star that he wasn’t born in a densely populated city. 

It seemed like the infection hadn’t even touched the farmland. The buildings were intact, and there were no bodies lying around. Stiles had bypassed the house, hoping that the people that had been living there had been evacuated as almost everyone else. He hadn’t dared to look inside. 

The animals in the barn had been near starvation, but it was clear that they had been fed no sooner than a week ago. Automated water dispensers were the only reason that the animals hadn’t died of thirst. Stiles was just incredibly relieved that his ADHD, as well as his swindling supply of medication, had reminded him that he should focus on creating a more sustainable future for himself, which led him to the farm before the animals either ran out of water or died of hunger. 

He somehow managed to get the animals into the farmer’s gigantic truck, normally used to transport animals for slaughter, squishing both cattle, goats, horses and poultry in without abandon. The animals were too tired and weak to fight him or each other for that matter. 

The memories of those days where fuzzy and clouded with grief, but Stiles was almost positive that he somehow managed to make two drives, with the truck transporting the different animals. At first he had led the animals down into the school’s basement, where the infected wouldn’t be able to get to them, sorting the different animals into different rooms. On the second trip to the farm, he had grabbed some of the feed, as well as the multiple kinds of seeds that where in the nearby shed. Most of the feed had gone bad due to a broken water pipe that had dripped down on the fodder, but Stiles had salvaged what he could. 

It had only taken him two weeks to construct a secure living place for the animals in the cafeteria. The pens were created out of a mix of old school tables, some of which he had sawn of the legs, and most of the supplies from a nearby ‘do it yourself’ store. It was far from pretty, and Stiles had had to make both improvements and repairs during the years, but the foundation was still the way it had been back when he first created the enclosures. 

Stiles was brought back to reality when a questioning muzzle reached out towards the pockets of his jeans. He laughed quietly and looked at the grey dappled mare, currently trying to steal whatever treats he had in his pockets. He gently stroked her between her eyes; before he walked over to the nearby table, he had set up, and grabbed a carrot for the mare. She quickly grabbed the carrot out of his hand, munching it down in no time. 

Ever since he had brought the animals to the school, he had kept a journal of how much food he used on them and it was quickly becoming apparent that the grey mare was his favorite. Whenever she asked for treats he couldn’t help but give her some, and it had only gotten worse now that she was an in-foal mare. Stiles was just glad that he didn’t have the same problem whenever he had an in-calf cow or else he would have run out of food faster than he could produce it. 

He quickly fed all of the animals, noting the amount of fodder he used before he wrote it down in one of his books. A yawn fought its way out, as he contemplated the possibility of going to sleep right then and there. He would probably end up with a horrible crick in his neck, but the extra sleep might be worth it. One of the pigs started squealing and Stiles jerked in his seat. He rubbed a hand across his forehead tiredly making his hair stand on end. 

Papers littered the table and Stiles haphazardly stacked them, the system he had implemented long since abandoned. It was his coordinated mess, of both feeding- and breeding charts, and it was familiar. 

He stood up from the swivel chair, he had stolen from the principal’s office, and walked towards the indoor gym. He quickly stuck his head inside the door, to make sure that there was no breach and that everything was okay, before he walked back to the cafeteria. The five mares started whining the moment they saw him enter the room, and he quickly grabbed two ropes, and opened up two of the stalls. He quickly tethered the rope to their two halters and started leading them down the hallway. They followed him willingly, almost moving faster than he did in their eagerness to get to the ‘pasture’ that he had created for them. 

For the first couple of weeks after Stiles acquired the animals, he had left them in their individual pens, after those had been constructed, because he didn’t dare leave them outside where the infected might get to them. He knew though, that the animals needed to be let out of their boxes, and so for lack of something better he started filling the gymnasium with dirt. He had tried to sow some grass in there for the animals to eat, but there wasn’t enough sunlight for it to properly grow. 

He released the horses and they galloped into the room, clearly happy to be in a less confined place. It was understandable that they would feel that way, but luckily, they seemed to be used to being confined in the stalls even from before he brought them to the school. He made quick work of getting the last two mares, laughing when one of them neighed before she took off. Stiles, and the rest of his class, had been working with medieval times before the infection. To relieve the boredom of the class he had often imagined horses and knights running amok throughout the school, but never quite like this. 

After the door of the gym slammed behind him, Stiles started jogging towards the schools swimming pool. The pool had been emptied at the time of the evacuation, due to one of Greenberg’s little accidents, and Stiles had decided to fully utilize the situation. It had taken forever, or at least seemed that way to Stiles’ at the time eleven-year-old mind, but he had finally managed to fill the entire pool with freshly dug dirt. 

Almost the entire roof over the pool was made of glass, which made the room ideal for growing crops. At least it was the most suitable of all the school’s areas. By now, the entire room was filled with crops, and Stiles had managed to get some sprinklers in there as well. He was immensely proud of everything he had created and achieved, but he knew that he wouldn’t have been able to do it without his books. He had books on every subject by now, and had read every single one at least twice. The first time he had a cow calve, he had almost worked himself into a panic attack, but one of the books, he had pillaged from the local animal clinic, had been able to calm him. It contained a step-by-step guide, and he could read about everything he needed, or wanted, to know. 

He had just sown new crops a couple of days ago, and he could already see small saplings making their way towards the light. Bringing any form of weed, which could suffocate his crops, into the room was one of Stiles’ more recurring nightmares. It would take so little, for him to suddenly be without a food source. When he was fourteen, it had almost happened, when some of the infected had managed to break into the school. They had eaten half of his cattle before Stiles noticed and screamed at them until they left. 

After Scott had arrived, when Stiles was about 16 years old, they started securing the lacrosse field. That way they could start growing some of the more delicate crops outside, in actual patches of dirt, instead of random window boxes. In addition, they were planning to convert the rest of the field into a pasture for some of the animals. Stiles had an inkling that the pigs might enjoy some of the mud that would undoubtedly be on the field after one or two rain showers. 

It was hard work, but Stiles was certain that it would be worth it in the end, as everything else had been. Stiles had gotten accustomed to the hard work over time, and his body showed it both with its toned muscles as well as with its multitude of scars. He wasn’t quite the patchwork blanket that Scott was, but he was getting there slowly. Unfortunately, it seemed as if he would never be as buff as Scott had become before he died. It seemed to be one of Scott’s greatest pleasures in his undead life. Stiles couldn’t really fault him for it, and was secretly thrilled whenever Scott rolled his eyes at Stiles’ whining or flexed his muscles, because it made him seem so much more human, more alive. 

He wandered the rest of the school making sure that all of the animals were okay, checking that they were eating properly and refilling their watering troughs, but took a minute to groom the black stallion. He wasn’t in need of a groom, but Stiles knew for a fact that the horse enjoyed the attention as well as the actual grooming. 

When he finally left the school, he made sure that all of the doors were locked tight. Just in case. Besides the principle, none of the other infected had neared the school after the last time, when Stiles yelled at them. Over the years, he had tried to make the infected people do things. He hadn’t really thought that it would work, but decided to give it a shot, since they seemed to at least react to something whenever he was near. It hadn’t worked, but then again, he hadn’t been expecting it to. 

The bike had fallen to the ground from where he had placed it against the schools outer wall, and he quickly picked it up and continued on his way to the police station. As always, his heart contracted painfully at the sight of the station. Even though seven years had passed, Stiles had never given up hope that his father would someday return to him. His father had been across the country when the infection first started, and Stiles knew that travelling carefully equated to moving slowly. He just knew that his dad was coming home, and even in his most morose and depressed moments he had never doubted that. His dad was his hero, and heroes could do anything. Even if it meant fighting his way across the country. 

Barking welcomed him, the minute he entered the station, and chased away any sullen thoughts. Dogs and puppies always made things better. Unfortunately, Scott seemed to agree with him on that. As soon as the door slammed shut behind him, Stiles was quickly toppled onto the ground by two large dogs and several puppies. 

“Damn it, how did you guys get out? I checked on you last night, and your cages were fine!” Stiles said, voice dangerously close to cooing. “This is how you were made you know?” Stiles said to the puppy currently licking at his face. He shooed away the dogs and they obliged, letting him stand up while still cradling one of the puppies to his chest. 

The light in the station slowly flickered on to reveal that only two of the cages where open, whereas the rest of the police dogs where in their cages. Their tails where wagging with an almost dizzying speed, and Stiles quickly moved over to great them. When all of the dogs had calmed down a bit, he grabbed the two little rascals that had somehow gotten out during the night. Stiles wasn’t sure, but he suspected that they somehow used the puppies as a means to get out. They had some elaborate scheme, he was sure of it. 

The cute was almost enough to make Stiles’ heart melt, as the puppies tripped over themselves in their eagerness to follow their parents back into their cages. He had to stop a couple of them, when they tried to follow their dad instead of their mom, knowing that they needed to be with her most of all. They were only about 3 weeks old, and from one of his many books Stiles had learned that he soon had to wean them of the milk, and start them on soft puppy food. He had just been putting it off, because he didn’t have any actual puppy food. 

There was a store in town that had sold animal food and everything needed for different kinds of animals. Unfortunately, most of the food had gone bad, and the only bag that had been even remotely okay, had been ripped and covered in blood from an infected. The infected herself, was also lying on top of the feed, clearly having taken a bullet to the leg. Since Stiles had no idea, exactly how the infection spread, he hadn’t dared to use any of it. At that time, all of the animals in the store had already been eaten, and Stiles had been determined to keep his eyes locked on the floor. A few toys, blankets and dogs leashes had been salvageable, and where now resting safely in the police station. Granted, as Stiles looked at one of the puppies practically rip the head of rubber chicken, the safety of the toys was definitely put into question. 

He quickly fed all of the dogs, with a mix of boiled chicken, brown rice and even a few carrots. The dogs where probably glad that there was no more dogfood, as it meant that they were fed food of a better quality. Probably a better quality. At least he was sure that they could stomach it. 

Stiles was glad that he could spend some more time with the dogs than usually. He had done most of the more strenuous work the day before, and this was his day off. Granted, he still needed to make rounds and check-ups, but there was no backbreaking work to be done. He had just harvested and replanted his crops the week before, and it would take time for it to grow enough that he could harvest once again. 

When he left the station, after about an hour, the sun was high in the sky, but the grey mass of clouds hanging over the horizon promised that it was going to rain later on. It was one of the major advantages of living in northern California. It rained at least every couple of weeks, supplying him, and his animals, with fresh water. Generally, he knew that he had been extremely lucky. None of his crops had ever died, his animals were almost never sick and only once had some of the infected broken into one of his safe places. 

He made sure that he had locked up the station properly, and walked around the station and into what used to be an old bicycling shed. It had been practically unused until Stiles had noticed it, while he was making the town borders. He pushed his grey scarf up, so that it covered the bottom half of his face, and entered the shed. 

The rank scent of rot wafted towards him, and the scarf did little to dull his sense of smell. During the evacuation multiple of the infected had been killed by the military, both on their way in and on their way out. These were all people that Stiles had known, most of them in the early stages on the infection and therefore, still recognizable to him. About a month after his mother’s death, when he had secured all of the crops and all of the animals, he went around town with a wheelbarrow to collect the dead. Well, the dead-dead of the infected. He had stashed all of the bodies in the shed, just so that he wouldn’t have to look at them lying slain in the streets. 

After a couple of days, he had noticed a rabbit hiding by the side of the shed halfway hidden from view. That wasn’t the weird part, as Stiles often noticed several smaller animals choosing to hide in the city with the slowly moving infected rather than to face the woods and the predators. No, the weird part was that there had been an infected standing mere inches away from where the rabbit was hiding, as if it couldn’t smell it. Stiles, being every bit the curious 11 years old that he was, had decided to test out the theory. Multiple test runs later, Stiles had a very frightened rabbit, and an idea slowly forming in his head. 

That’s why, when Stiles finally made his way into the shed that he was able to grab a bucket filled to the brim with blood, intestines and organs of the infected. It was beyond gross, and even after 7 years Stiles hadn’t fully gotten used to it. He quickly moved out of the shed, grapping a broad paintbrush on the way before he closed the door firmly behind him. 

It only took him about an hour to paint around the entry points of the Sheriff’s station with the blood of the infected. That way the smell of the dogs attracted less infected, and with a few well-placed organs and intestines, Stiles would wager that the dogs where probably well hidden. At least in relation to the smell aspect of things. 

When he was done, he placed the bucket inside the shed once more, before he grabbed his bike and quickly made his way home. The streets were as empty as always, with all of the infected locked up in their respective homes. As Stiles did his best to avoid the big puddles of water on the road, he sincerely hoped that it was done raining for the day, so that the new ‘paint’ had a chance of drying even the tiniest bit. 

Once he was inside, he could feel all of the tension melt out of his shoulders. Quickly he pulled of his beanie and fingerless gloves as well as his dad’s old belt containing one of the pistols Stiles had stolen from the Sheriff’s station. He toed off his shoes and continued into the living room bringing the gun with him. Even though he hadn’t had to fire it in approximately three years he still cleaned it regularly. Just in case. The ritual of it all had, with time, gained a relaxing effect and Stiles was able to completely focus on just one task as opposed to whenever he was outside and had to be observant and see everything. 

Gun oil covered his fingers once he was done, and he carefully placed the now clean gun into its holster before he dragged his feet upstairs to take a shower. As the warm water cascaded over his sore back, he once again blessed everything that the water pump was still working. 

He stood under the shower for longer than he probably should, but he couldn’t make himself leave the comfortable warmth of the shower. When he finally shut of the water the entire room was filled with steam, and Stiles opened the small window in the room in an attempt to avoid any damage due to moisture. Cold air quickly filled the room, clearing Stiles’ head even as he started to shiver against the cold. With a towel wrapped tightly around his hips, Stiles moved to his room and quickly pulled on a clean-ish pair of pants. The sound of the doorbell reached Stiles just as he was pulling a t-shirt over his head, and he quickly bounded down the stairs to open the door. 

Scott was standing on the other side; grin already in place as well as two rabbits slung over one of his armor clad shoulders. He stepped through the door and moved into the kitchen to deposit the two dead animals on the kitchen counter. Stiles closed and locked the door before he followed him into the kitchen. 

“Nice! This’ll make for some good stew, and I can give the other one to the dogs. And the barrier was still intact? No breaches?” Stiles asked as he started expertly skinning the rabbits. Scott simply shook his head with a small groan, and moved to sit in one of the kitchen chairs. 

Stiles cooked the food while the sky slowly darkened, and the stars became visible on the black background. The end of the world had really improved the air quality, and as a result, the stars shone that much brighter. Silver linings, Stiles thought as he easily found the familiar constellations on the night sky. 

He ate quickly, while the food was warm and saved the rest for the dogs when it was cool enough to be packed up. In the beginning it had unnerved Stiles that Scott usually just sat at the table and stared at Stiles while he ate, but when Stiles realized that it wasn’t actually so different from the way things where before, he relaxed. Even when Scott had still been alive, human, or not infected, whatever he chose to call it, he hadn’t actually said anything while they ate together. Their parents frequently had long shifts so meals together became the norm from early on. Even back then Scott didn’t say anything, or more accurately he wasn’t able to get a word in edgewise because Stiles rambled as much as he did. 

When he was done eating and packing up the food, he cleaned his bowl with a cloth deeming it okay to use it for breakfast in the morning before he had to properly wash it. Both of them climbed the stairs and went into their separate rooms. Scott mostly spent his nights in the guestroom, as Stiles didn’t feel comfortable with letting him roam the city during the night. Anything could happen to him, so it was safer if he just stayed inside. Scott had looked at Stiles like he had finally lost his mind after he declared that Scott had to stay inside at all times during the night. He finally consented after Stiles somewhat bitter-sweetly reminded him of the fact that he was now two years older than Scott since the infection had stopped his aging. 

Stiles turned to look at him from the doorway of his room, as Scott shuffled further down the hallway. 

“Good night Scott” Stiles called, and smiled softly as Scott managed a “G’ night” before he vanished into the guestroom. 


	3. Outsiders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello :)
> 
> So, here's another chapter... I hope you'll like it. If you do, please feel free to leave comment and/or kudos.   
> Sorry for the wait, but I had to pass my exams before I had any time to do some writing. 
> 
> This isn't beta'ed so if you spot any glaring errors please leave a comment, and I'll do my best to fix the mistake :)

Derek looked around at his pack members as they all slept somewhat peacefully. Isaac was moving in a way that indicated that he was about to have a nightmare, and Derek had been keeping an eye on him for the last hour. Allison rolled over in her sleep, and Isaac seemed to calm as he snuggled closer to her. Derek had been hesitant at the idea of bringing not only Allison, but also her father, into the pack because of their name and previous profession as werewolf hunters. Derek had to admit though, they had been an invaluable addition to the pack, and Isaac had taken a liking to Allison immediately.

As werewolves they couldn’t get infected, and the zombies where less vicious when it came to the wolves. Their bites still hurt like hell though, and where a long time to heal by werewolf standards. Derek counted his lucky stars that they only had three humans and a banshee in the pack. They weren’t sure whether or not Lydia, the banshee, could get infected, but they hadn’t dared taking any chances at the risk of finding out.

Sunlight found its way into the room through the windows, despite the bookcases they had used in an effort to protect against any roaming zombies. Derek stared for an unknown amount of time as the sun slowly crept over the floor until it reached Cora’s hairs making it shine. He had been close to ecstatic to learn that his baby sister had been on her way to New York to find him when the infection spread. If she hadn’t already been on her way there, she might have missed him and his pack as they were preparing to travel to California when she finally arrived.

The pack had grown in size over the years, and they had been forced to make several lengthy stops during their trip, but now they were finally almost there. It had taken them seven years to make it from New York to California, but Derek was sure that it was going to be worth it. They could settle down there and build a life for themselves. As Derek looked at Allison’s steadily growing baby bump, it was clear that they needed that more than ever.

It was only when the sunlight had snuck over the floor so that it grazed Derek’s own feet that he finally woke the pack from their slumber. They all grumbled and complained, but Derek knew that they were used to the early mornings after many years on the road.

“Dereeeek!” Liam whined, still half asleep as he got to his feet and scent marked his alpha. Derek was extremely happy that Isaac had grown up somewhat and moved away from being the ‘pack baby’ leaving that spot particular open for Liam.

When everyone was awake they moved completely in sync and had both eaten breakfast and packed up camp in under an hour. The weres spilled out of their hiding place first, eliminating any zombies that might have appeared during the night. Chris, Lydia, Mason and Allison were all ushered out and into the cars, much to their shared annoyance. Though they all knew that Allison’s grumbling was just for show. She’d never allow for anything to happen to herself while she was pregnant and neither would the rest of the pack. That kid would be so loved; Derek could already tell. Derek would make sure that he or she had a safe place to grow up with a strong pack.

“Derek you’re being all quiet and broody. Are you going into protection mode again?” Lydia asked from the seat beside him in the car. She had a small smirk on her face and it was a common occurrence for the pack to tease him about his tendency to be a tad too protective and worried, but Derek could see that Lydia was equally worried. He quickly removed one hand from the steering wheel, placed it on her knee, and gave a little reassuring squeeze. He still wasn’t very good at being the comforting and open type, but it was a testament to show how far he had come when Lydia’s shoulders slumped a bit at the touch as tension bled from her body.

“I am not brooding” Derek growled, making Lydia give him a small sincere smile before she rolled her eyes at him and mumbled a ‘whatever you say’ under her breath. After that the rest of the car ride passed in relative silence since they were all sick of hearing the same cd’s repeatedly and Liam was the only one that still wanted to play ‘I spy’.

They drove for a couple of hours, only stopping to check if the pharmacy in the nearby town had been raided. It had, but Cora remembered the smell of the vitamin supplements that their human aunt had taken while pregnant, and was able to find two bottles for Allison. After that, it only took them an hour to reach the sign indicating the beginning of Beacon County. From that vantage point, they could see a great deal of the city. Derek gave the signal for the other cars to stop, before he got out of the car to take a better look. 

A very distinct barrier had been made around the city, easily cutting of any incoming cars. Unless that car was either a tank or a bulldozer. The barrier enveloped a rather big part of the city, and only the area that was primarily residential as well as the warehouse area were excluded.

“Is someone already living there?” Isaac asked from where he had moved to stand behind Derek. His voice sounded small, and Derek knew that being on the move with his pregnant mate was taking its toll on his wolf and that his human parental instincts weren’t too happy about the entire thing either.

“I don’t think so.” Derek mumbled, mostly to himself, as he heard the rest of the pack coming to look for themselves.

Chris moved to stand next to Derek as they looked over the city. “Someone clearly lived there at some point, but look at all the dead roaming around inside the barrier. Most likely scenario; someone lived there, but screwed up and was somehow infected or they were overrun. It will take a while to kill all of them off, but once that is done we should be able to find the breach, if there is one, and patch it up. The barrier could be to our advantage.” Chris finished as he kept surveying the area. The rest of the pack nodded while Derek thought it over.

“I don’t think so” Isaac suddenly piped up from where he was standing with his arms protectively wrapped around Allison. “If whoever were living there were overrun, wouldn’t there be bodies lying in the streets? There is no way that they were either infected or overrun and everyone got turned. Someone should have ended up dead.”

Allison turned her head to give Isaac a small peck on his cheek, and while the blond beta glowed the rest of the pack contemplated what Isaac had said. Derek looked over the town, and now that Isaac had pointed it out, it did seem a bit weird. Of course, it was possible for all of the bodies to be lying inside some building or something, but it did seem rather unlikely. If they were overrun people must have been taken off guard and must have been out and about. Even if it was during the night, there should have been someone guarding the town whose body should have been visible. Same thing goes in the case that they were infected somehow.

“Okay, the humans will stay here and the rest of the pack will follow me into the town to see if there is some way for us to get our cars through and find a secure location. And don’t even bother arguing with me” Derek said with a stern look towards the humans. “You know as well as I do, that you’ll just attract more attention from the dead”.

None of the humans looked happy to be left behind, their expressions pinched, but they didn’t argue. Derek ordered both Parrish and Liam to stay behind, and quickly started walking towards the town before the humans could argue that they didn’t need babysitters. Derek knew from experience that they would.

Derek felt the pack move in a familiar formation behind him as they neared the town. It calmed down his wolf to know that his betas had his back. The pack bond hummed between them in a way that reminded him of the way his family’s pack bond had felt like. Derek hadn’t mentioned it to Cora, but he could see that she felt the same way.

As they neared the town, Derek felt himself get more on edge for every step they took towards the town. Something was wrong with this place. It was all the small things that threw him off. Like how the barrier obviously wasn’t designed to keep zombies out of the town, but rather it was to keep out vehicles. As it was, Derek supposed that they were lucky that the barriers weren’t harder to overcome.

Things only seemed to become even stranger as they slowly walked through the town. Derek’s head snapped to the side, as he smelled the familiar herbs that his aunt had used for regular tea-making as well as medical supplements. The smell came from one of the houses that had a couple of well cared for jardinières filled to the brim with herbs. As Derek cautiously walked towards the house moaning and scratching sounds started to emanate from the house, making it clear that it was as filled with zombies as the jardinières were with herbs.

Isaac tugged on the sleeves of Derek’s jacket to get him moving when it appeared that the door would hold. They were still on the fringes of the town, and as they had seen from the hilltop with the others there were a lot of infected even within the barrier. Therefore, they stopped when they were able to hear the zombies walking around town, and pulled on their protection. They had fashioned some crudely made ponchos and covered them with zombie blood and guts in an effect to remain undetected. They always had to draw straws as to which wolf would have to wear the backpack containing the rancid clothing.

Cora pouted as she swung the backpack from her shoulders and roughly smacked it into Isaac’s chest. Isaac just grinned in return before taking out his own clothes. When they were ready they continued, but in a much slower pace than before, in order to fit in amongst the many zombies.

It had been getting steadily darker ever since they entered the town, but with their werewolf sight, they had no trouble navigating around to avoid any obstacles. That had also been one of the argument to make the humans stay by the car. However, when Derek stopped so suddenly that Isaac smacked directly into his back it seemed like that argument went out the window, as Isaac struggled not to fall flat on his ass.

He waited until after a nearby zombie had passed before he hissed “What the hell Derek”, while slowly and indignantly fixing his blond curls.

“You seriously can’t hear that?” Derek whispered back, noticing how Isaac quickly dropped his angry act and instead looked intrigued.

“Hear what?” Cora asked a bit more loudly than what was probably smart all things considered.

“The heartbeat” Derek answered, confused as to why he was the only one able to hear it. Normally Cora had just as good a hearing as Derek himself did. Derek was just about to ask if they really couldn’t hear anything when he looked at their faces pinched in concentration trying to hear the heartbeat. They really weren’t messing with him.

They walked for another couple of minutes before Cora tapped him on the shoulder indicating that she too could hear the heartbeat. Derek nodded, considering what they should do. He had been almost certain that no one had been living in town. They might be trapped in one of the houses, surrounded by all of the zombies.

Unanimously they started walking towards the house from where they could now all hear the heartbeat coming from. The house smelled slightly of death, but there was also a stronger scent, a very human scent.

It was clear to see that someone had been living in the house, as it wasn’t nearly as dirty and disorganized as the rest of the houses. Not that the other houses were in any way ruined compared to a lot of the other houses the pack had come across during their travels. The door wasn’t locked when they reached the house, and they quietly let themselves in.

Derek wasn’t sure why he had wanted to come here. Obviously, they needed to make sure that whoever either lived here or was trapped here wasn’t a threat, but there was something else as well. The heartbeat was strangely comforting and the smell of the human had Derek’s wolf tilting its head in delighted confusion, as weird as that sounded. The rest of the pack all looked wary, and Derek knew that he should be too, but he couldn’t find it in him. That scared him more than anything else.

The living room was filled with a vast collection of books and movies, covering every available surface and even lining the walls. The stairs creaked under the combined weight of them all, but there was no change in the heartbeat, and Derek strongly suspected that the person was in deep sleep. When he reached the top of the stairs both the scent of decay and that of human became much stronger, which Derek thought was a bit strange, but he supposed that there could be a poncho like theirs somewhere up here.

The rest of the pack hung back as he slowly crept up the stairs, and opened the first door on the right. He could vaguely make out the outline of a long body lying under the sheets. Cautiously he entered the room and neared the bed, to take a closer look at the human. The only thing he was able to see was a mop of brown hair, before he suddenly had a knife at his throat. He swallowed thickly, feeling the blade move as well. He berated himself for being so swept up in discovering from whom that comforting smell emanated, that he didn’t even notice the change in heartbeat.

The boy, no the young man, stood from the bed, sheets pooling around him as he wordlessly urged Derek to move backwards towards the hallway. Someone, probably Kira, had turned on the light in the hallway and for multiple reasons Derek wished they hadn’t. If anyone asked, he would say that the dark would give him an advantage on the human, who most likely couldn’t see very well in the dark. In reality, Derek knew that the light didn’t really change much other than the fact that it highlighted the pale skin and the many moles. The light was reflected in amber eyes making them shine beautifully.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” The man asked, hand never wavering from where he kept the knife against Derek’s throat. If Derek hadn’t been able to hear his heartbeat, he would truly have believed that the man was calm and not at all afraid. Where the heartbeat had been fast before, it was now practically sprinting in the young man’s chest. His eyes kept flittering to look behind Derek no more than a second at a time, and Derek knew that his pack was standing behind him.

“My name is Derek Hale, and me and my friends were just looking for a place to settle down” Derek answered truthfully, not yet certain if he should try to knock the knife away or not. He was about to open his mouth, to try to ensure that things didn’t go haywire, when a loud crash could be heard from one of the other rooms. The man’s heartbeat sped up, and for the first time he seemed afraid.

Another sound came from the room before a slight moaning started up and the sound of dragging feet quickly accompanied it. The sound of Kira unsheathing her blade, made Derek more calm, but only seemed to further frighten the young man.

“Listen, I know that you don’t know me, and that you have no reason to trust any of us, but you need to move. We can protect you, but you need to move!” Derek said feeling himself become more and more anxious as the zombie slowly came into view. For a zombie, it actually looked like it had just died, and maybe it had. There was a smell of death, but the overpowering smell of decay that usually surrounded zombies was suspiciously absent.

The zombie shuffled closer, surprisingly keeping up its slow pace, even when it should easily be able to smell the human standing in front of it. Derek was ready to leap onto the zombie if need be, but the sharp blade to his throat kept him in place. Derek almost wondered if the young man was insane. He’d seen it before, where people simply couldn’t cope with everything going on in the world. The young man didn’t seem out of it at all. In fact, the golden eyes seemed to sparkle with life and intelligence. Derek wasn’t at all effected by the fact that the man was easily the most beautiful human being Derek had seen since he left New York. He really wasn’t.

It seemed like they all held their breath, as the zombie shuffled closer. When it reached the young man it snaked an arm half way around his stomach before almost hiding itself behind the man’s broad shoulders. Its eyes were fixed on something behind Derek, and just as it opened its mouth to bite into the man’s shoulder, Derek moved feeling the blade press harshly against his throat.

“P-prettyy…” The zombie groaned, which caused Derek to stop in his tracks.


	4. Familiar faces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi :)  
> Here's another chapter, and I'm so sorry about the delay. I know that it's taken a really long time, but luckily the next chapter should be up in a day or two. I just need edit it a bit :) 
> 
> As always all mistakes are mine, so if there are any glaring errors feel free to point them out to me, and I'll see what I can do about correcting them :D

“Oh my god, Scott! Now is not the time to get a crush on some random girl” Stiles blurted out, lowering his arm, because damn, that had been downright exhausting. Also, the guy had seemed pretty chill about the fact that a knife was slowly cutting into his neck, which was now red with blood. It didn’t seem to bleed that badly anymore, so Stiles didn’t offer any assistance. Not that he should offer assistance, not even if the guy looked like a Greek god reincarnated.

“It can talk” Derek mumbled, eyes narrowing on Scott.

Stiles narrowed his eyes right back, and tightened his grip on the knife, knowing that if any of them attacked he wouldn’t be able to stop them, but he would go down swinging if he had to. Stiles could feel the comforting pressure of Scott’s hand clenched in the back of his t-shirt and chose to focus on that as a way of calming himself.

“Yes, _he_ can” Stiles bit out, even though he knew that these people had most likely never met an infected like Scott before. He though, he saw a flash of something red in Derek’s eyes, but it was gone a soon as he had seen it.

There were sounds coming from down the stairs, and Stiles halfway hoped that it would some kind of infected backup. However, he quickly gave up on that thought when the sounds turned into distinct and melodic footsteps.

One of the intruders, the one with the angelic face and blond curly hair, turned on his feet and practically sprinted down the stairs. Stiles was only able to hear some mumbled voices before a feminine voice shouted up from downstairs in the living room.

“Derek come back down here” the voice said carrying an unusual amount of authority.

Derek’s expression became pinched and his eyebrows furrowed in clear irritation before he slowly started backing away from Stiles and Scott. Stiles followed the group slowly, as they all descended the stairs, not trusting them with anything in his home. Scott wisely kept back, and followed even slower than Stiles. When Stiles was halfway down the stairs Scott turned around and began clambering up the stairs at a hurried pace. The door to the guestroom creaked as it was pushed open, and from then on out Stiles wasn’t able to hear what Scott was doing.

The knife’s shaft was starting to cut into the skin of his palm with how hard he was clenching it, but he didn’t dare lower it. He had already made that kind of mistake once, and had sworn that it would never be repeated. He quickly redirected his thoughts, not wanting to be distracted by past mistakes.

Once he reached the bottom of the stairs, he felt his heartrate double as he took in how many people had sneaked past his defenses. He was still rapidly nearing a full-blown panic attack, when a voice squealed.

“Oh my god, Stiles!?!”. The exclamation came from a girl with long strawberry blond hair.

Stiles turned to look at her, as his eyes had automatically been locked on the biggest treats, which appeared to be Derek, a young blond man and the katana-wielding girl who Scott had called pretty. If Stiles was honest with himself, they all gave of some sort of predator vibe, but two of those three had actual weapons and Derek seemed to be their leader. As he studied the girl and took in her pale skin, red hair and green eyes the puzzle pieces slowly started to come together.

“Holy shit! Lydia!” Stiles yelled, finally recognizing his childhood friend. He and Lydia had been good friends, and bonded over books in the way he and Scott never could. Towards the end of the world, after Lydia turned eleven she had distanced herself from him, claiming that she needed to be around girls more. It had smarted a lot, but then the world had ended and it hadn’t really mattered all that much after that.

He was so floored by seeing a familiar face that wasn’t in some stage of decay, that he dropped the knife to the floor as Lydia threw herself into his arms. He hugged her close, even though she smelled and was covered in dirt and blood. Somewhere in the back of his head a small voice spoke up, saying that he shouldn’t have left himself defenseless, just because he saw someone he once knew. Too late now, another voice argued.

“Damn Stilinski, you grew up hot” Lydia said with a small smile as she pulled back. Stiles recognized it as the same way of deflecting emotion that she had used back in the day. Her eyes looked damp.

“And you grew up just as beautiful as everyone knew you would” Stiles whispered, before taking a step back, but not letting go of her completely. He could feel a couple of eyes on him. Well, all eyes were on them, but a particular pair made the hair on the back of his neck rise. He tried to cast a subtle look around the room, and found the young blond man starring at him with open jealousy and suspicion.

“Who’s your friend?” Stiles whispered conspiratorially nodding his head towards the blond man. Lydia rolled her eyes before snapping at the man, who was apparently called Jordan, to calm down. However, she did blow him a kiss afterwards, which seemed to placate him somewhat.

They slowly let go of each other, and Stiles had a feeling that Lydia was as reluctant to do so as he himself was. Stiles quickly scooped the knife up from the floor, but placed it in the holster he had on his thigh. Lydia’s eyes roamed his face as he picked up the knife, and Stiles only offered her a shrug, not wanting to elaborate.

“Seriously Lydia, who are your friends?” Stiles asked, still somewhat alert.

He let his eyes roam over the group standing in his living room. It had been so long since he had seen another living face, if Scott’s didn’t count, but the last time he had had ‘visitors’, they hadn’t turned out to be particularly nice.

“Ah yes, introductions might be in order” Lydia said, mouth twisting into a somewhat concerned frown.

The introductions went by quickly; there was the girl Scott liked, a cute girl named Kira. Well, she was cute when she wasn’t pointing a katana at his best friend. Then there was a man who looked to be about two years older than Stiles. He had blond hair and wore a well-worn NYPD jacket, though Stiles couldn’t be entirely sure that it actually belonged to its wearer. He was also the guy who clearly had a thing for Lydia, or they had a thing for each other, one really couldn’t tell when Lydia was involved. After that Lydia moved on to introducing two fifteen-year old boys named Liam and Mason. The two boys where standing closely together looking around the room as if unsure of their safety. An eighteen-year-old girl was introduced as Cora. The girl stood almost directly behind the guy, Derek he had said his name was, and they were so similar in appearance that they had to be siblings.

Lydia noticeably hesitated when her eyes skirted to Derek, but she didn’t say anything and went on with the introductions. Stiles presumed that she had heard Derek introducing himself to Stiles upstairs and that was why she had skipped the introduction. Next up, was Chris, who was clearly the oldest of the bunch. Chris was standing protectively in front of a pretty brunette, and the blond curly-haired guy that Lydia introduced as Isaac had taken a similar protective stance. When Lydia finally introduced the last member of their group as Allison, and her best friend, the two protectors slowly stepped aside so that Stiles could see her properly.

At first Stiles found their behavior utterly suspicious and weird, but after having taken in Allison’s adorable dimples his eyes drifted and he quickly realized why they were all so protective of her. Allison had what was very clearly a baby-bump. She was pregnant.


	5. Terms and conditions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi :)   
> Here's another chapter. I hope you like it :) 
> 
> I passed my exams, so hopefully there won't be too long between updates from here on out :D

It took Stiles an inappropriate amount of time to stop staring at Allison’s round stomach. Isaac, who Stiles supposed was Allison’s boyfriend slash baby-daddy, actually growled at him. He honest to god growled, which was enough to snap Stiles out of whatever trance he had been in only moments ago.

The last time he had seen a pregnant woman was shortly before his mom died. She had been exceptionally nice, and had offered to buy him Reese’s peanut butter cups from the vending machine after she had found him crying near his mother’s hospital room. It seemed so weird that normal things like pregnancies were still out there when the world was like this now. However, it was also Allison’s appearance that cemented the thought he had been thinking since he first laid eyes on Lydia again. They could all stay as long as they liked.

“I’m guessing this is the reason you came back Lyds?” Stiles asked, eyes shifting towards Lydia who nodded her head.

Stiles was just about to speak again, when Derek stepped forward. Stiles tried not to take it personally when Allison was once again pushed back and shielded by all of the others. “We didn’t expect for anyone to still be alive here, but as you’ve surely guessed most of us are from here and we wanted to come back now that Allison and Isaac are expecting. It’s easier to secure a place that you already know.” Derek said, and even though his voice sounded calm and confident, his eyes were wide and kept looking over Stiles’ shoulder towards the stairs.

Chris, Allison’s father, also seemed to notice that Derek was rather rattled and stepped forward as well, addressing Stiles. “If you could just go get whoever is in charge of this settlement we’ll be happy to discuss a mutually beneficial agreement. I think you’ll find that most of our… group can be valuable on supply runs and whenever heavy lifting is needed”.

A tense silence followed as Stiles thought over what had been said. He had already decided that he would let them stay, but now that he was about to tell them that he was here all alone he hesitated. Stiles wasn’t able to truly believe that Lydia would ever do him harm, but he still didn’t trust the rest of them. They could easily overpower him when they discovered that there weren’t any other humans here. Stiles thought it over before he decided to throw caution to the wind. He tried to tell himself that he based his decision solely on the fact that Lydia seemed comfortable with them and that Allison was pregnant, and not at all on the fact that Derek’s multicolored eyes sent shivers down his spine. Because that was a bad reason to make _any_ decision.

“I’m in charge” Stiles said forcing calmness and authority into his voice, smirking when Chris’ eyes widened and then narrowed suspiciously. “And to be honest I’m pretty sure that we won’t need help with supply runs, though some help with the heavy lifting sounds nice.”

Lydia had her eyes narrowed much like Chris’, and she looked like she wanted to eat Stiles for breakfast if she found out that he was lying.

“He’s not lying” Liam budded in, breaking the tension. Chris looked to Derek, who merely nodded while looking both grumpy and extremely unhappy. Stiles being in charge didn’t seem to sit well with him. Or it might have something to do with the fact that his eyes yet again were fixed on the stairs.

“I’m really not. And given the situation” Stiles said, with a pointed look at Allison “It seems I have no choice but allow you to stay here” He finished with a small smile. Most of the group visibly relaxed and Liam and Mason even high-fived. Lydia was still looking at him with her eyes narrowed, and Stiles unsure how much of his insecurity was shining through. He still wasn’t entirely sure that he was making the right decision given that he had experienced firsthand how kindness could be met with violence.

“I do however have one condition, and that is that you don’t hurt Scott. Ever.” Stiles said, trying to sound like his dad so much it hurt. He could remember that his dad had this voice that everyone listened to, authority and firm kindness oozing out of every word.

This finally seemed to wake Derek up, and he stared at Stiles unnervingly without blinking before finally saying “No”.

Stiles blinked twice at the blunt reply, before he could feel himself starting to get angry. Scott would never dream of hurting a soul, and they wouldn’t even give him a chance. It wasn’t like Stiles was demanding that they spend any time with him, or even like him. His only demand was ‘just don’t kill him’, and was that really so hard?

Lydia seemed hesitant when she asked, “Scott is here?”. Like she was dreading the answer. Stiles understood where she was coming from, but Scott wasn’t like all the rest. Stiles wasn’t just hopelessly naïve or purposefully oblivious when it came to Scott’s current state. He was just about to answer when the blond curly-haired one, Isaac, answered instead “No, it’s a zombie. He’s dead”.

Stiles whirled in Isaac’s direction not even sure what he was going to say, but knowing it wasn’t going to be pretty, and most likely something that he would later regret. Suddenly, most of the room seemed to freeze up, muscles tensing. Another second passed before Stiles could hear it too; the distinctive sound of Scott slowly moving down the stairs.

“Don’t any of you dare to hurt him” was all Stiles managed to say before Scott appeared in the living room.

Stiles turned slightly towards Scott, still mindful of the fact that none of the newcomers had explicably said that they wouldn’t hurt Scott. Out of the corner of his eye Stiles was able to see that most of them moved closer to Allison in order to protect her. So far no guns were out, even though Stiles could practically see Chris’ and Parrish’s fingers twitching.

“Dude, you know you weren’t supposed to come down until I had made sure that there would be no trouble. Do you have a death wish?” Scott simply stared at Stiles, who could feel himself turning a bit red “Right, bad way of phrasing that. Well, now that you’re here, everyone this is Scott, Scott this is everyone. And Lydia you obviously already know”.

Lydia looked like she was about to cry. Her facial expression remained that way right up until Scott stammered out a “Hello”.

The greeting was followed with a shocked silence, and even Derek and the ones who had heard Scott speak before seemed shocked. It took close to an hour before the gathered group calmed down after hearing Scott speak. They still seemed rather shocked, perplexed and uncertain, but luckily, none of them appeared overly hostile.

“S-sstiles… people. Good?” Scott asked, and Stiles slowly nodded taking in all of their shell-shocked expressions, but also the lack of weapons. Good. “I think they’re good, yes.”

“I hope so” Stiles added under his breath. “One of them is pregnant” Stiles said knowing that Scott would be pleased about it, about knowing that life was still out there.

“Baby?” Scott asked gleefully eyes scanning the room until they landed on Allison. He offered her an awkward wave and a butchered ‘congratulations’ that Stiles had to translate so that Allison understood it. That earned him a clap on the shoulder from Scott. Allison waved back shyly, even as Isaac pushed her even further behind himself.

“G-good people. Food?” Scott asked, after which Liam and Mason immediately started to scream various variations of “He wants to eat us”. It was actually kind of hilarious. Even more so since Scott had a disturbed expression on his face from the mere thought of it, which was actually quite impressive considering his limited array of facial expressions.

Stiles snorted, which seemed to bring all of the attention back to him, and serve to somewhat calm down the two boys. “He’s not asking if you’re food! He’s either asking whether I have offered all of you some food or if I have told you how we make our food… So Scotty-boy which one?”

Scott nodded, and Stiles had an inkling that he was trying to look as friendly as possible at that very moment, as to not further freak out the boys, or the rest of the group for that matter. “One” he simply said. Stiles rolled his eyes. He loved Melissa, but sometimes Scott was actually too well-mannered as a result of her parenting. Offering food to complete strangers, not counting Lydia, wouldn’t really be anyone’s first move in this new world. Only Scott would think to offer the invading strangers food, when they hadn’t even agreed not to kill him yet.

“No, I haven’t offered them anything to eat! I haven’t had the time, okay? It wasn’t exactly the first thing that came to mind. I wasn’t ever very well-mannered, as you should know, and it’s not exactly like I had the opportunity to use whatever manners I once had.” Stiles rambled, effected by the puppy eyes that Scott threw his way.

“Comp-ny… good” Scott said, smiling slightly at Stiles. They had figured out long ago that Scott truly smiling was, to put it simply, quite terrifying. Stiles didn’t mind it so much, but he was glad that Scott was at least aware that he should appear as non-threatening as possible.

“Yeah, yeah. Company is good” Stiles grumbled, knowing that Scott was right, though he was not necessarily happy about it. Stiles had been alone for years before Scott returned to Beacon Hills, and even though Scott was all the company that Stiles needed, a few new faces would be welcome. Stiles knew that Scott worried about him, worried that he worked too hard, and that he needed living people or even just new people. Stiles knew this, even though Scott wasn’t able to properly verbalize his thoughts.

“Are you alone here?” Derek asked, eyes once again on Stiles, whereas they had previously been locked on Scott. Most eyes had been locked on Scott.

“No” Stiles answered, perhaps a little too quickly as Derek’s only response was to arch an eyebrow.

“I… argh. Nice going Scott” Stiles grumbled lightly punching Scott’s shoulder. Stiles didn’t really think that it would make any difference to the group standing before him, but he had been fooled before. They could easily chase him out of the city if they decided they didn’t want to share it with a weird spastic teenager.

Lydia pushed her way past Parrish to stand in front of Stiles. “Exactly how long have you been alone Stiles?” she looked like she didn’t really want to know. “And don’t include Scott as company” Lydia said sternly, when Stiles opened his mouth to say that he had Scott and therefore he wasn’t alone.

“Ever since my mother died. That was seven years ago.” The shocked silence that followed was even worse than the one that had followed Scott’s first word.


	6. Learning the ropes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi :) 
> 
> Here's another chapter, and I am so sorry for the long wait... I swear, I just blinked once, and then a month had passed.  
> I hope you like the chapter, but if there are any errors feel free to point them out to me. I did my proofreading last night at close to one in the morning so... there might be quite a few mistakes. Hopefully it won't be too bad :) 
> 
> Good news though, I have my genetics exam next friday, and then I'll have two weeks of vacation, so yay! Hopefully that means that I might be able to get a lot of writing done :D

“How the hell is he still sane?” Liam whispered to Mason, and Derek sent a glare their way, feeling a strange need to defend the quirky boy standing in front of him practically hugging a zombie. 

It seemed like Stiles really wanted to get out of there to avoid all of their staring gazes. Actually, it seemed like he mostly wanted to avoid Lydia and her concerned looks. His heart was beating a fast, complicated tune, and his eyes were darting around the room.

“Well, I already agreed that you could stay here as long as you pitch in with whatever needs doing around town.” He smelled of nervousness. “And as long as you don’t hurt Scott”. The pack moved around hesitantly until Derek stepped forward. Lydia seemed reluctant to take a step away from Stiles, but even the ‘non-werewolves’ in the pack were able to feel and understand his authority.

“Of course” Derek said, noticing the way Stiles’ shoulders slumped a bit; Like he wasn’t entirely sure that he could trust anything Derek said, but also like he at least wanted to trust them. Derek, if anyone, could understand his reluctance to trust a group of complete strangers.

The rest of the pack seemed slightly bewildered at his easy acceptance, but he could feel their acceptance resonating throughout the pack bond, so he knew that he had made the right decision. Most of them knew what it felt like to be hunted simply because they were different. Derek wasn’t about to let that happen to someone else. Even if that someone was a zombie. A zombie that they would be keeping a very close eye on.

Stiles was nodding his head at something the zombie, Scott, had said while Derek had been too immersed in his own thoughts to listen. Luckily, he quickly realized that Stiles wanted to show them around town.

All of the wolves tried to be as subtle as possible while they sniffed their human and banshee packmates to make sure that they stilled smelled dead. Allison who had taken off her homemade poncho as soon as they entered the house, claiming that it made her nauseous, quickly pulled it down over her head with the help of both her mate and her father. She grumbled at that, but accepted the help.

Stiles looked on curiously from where he had moved to lean against the front door. His heartbeat sped up a couple of times like he wanted to say something, but he remained silent as he watched the pack get ready. Derek was aware that he too should be making sure that everyone in the pack smelled like the undead, but he found himself looking at Stiles, unable to tear his eyes away. Stiles’ face was so expressive that Derek practically saw the lightbulb appear above his head, as he understood whatever it was he had apparently been contemplating.

Stiles clapped his hands together loudly as the pack gathered by the front door “All set?” he asked, in an overly cheerful tone of voice, smiling broadly when he was answered with a multitude of hesitant nods.

Stiles was just about to open the door when Lydia spoke up “Aren’t you forgetting something Stiles?” she asked dryly, giving his clothes, and particularly his lack of a zombie repelling poncho, a once-over.

“eh… got my keys, don’t carry a wallet. So… I think I’m good to go, thanks” Stiles answered, with a small smirk. It was infuriatingly attractive.

Then he opened the door and stepped outside closely followed by Scott. Derek wasn’t even a little ashamed to deny that his heart beat a little faster seeing him out there unprotected with nothing to shield him from the dead. The rest of the packs’ heartbeats had sped up as well, so Derek didn’t worry about any impending teasing.

Derek had had a hunch that Stiles didn’t attract zombies, like the rest of them did, but it was something completely different to expect something and then to see Stiles wandering the streets amongst the zombies. It contradicted what had quickly become one of the fundamental truths about this world; Zombies attack everything, no matter if it’s a parent attacking their child or a spouse attacking a significant other. No one’s safe. Except from Stiles, apparently. Derek knew that it would take some getting used to.

Stiles locked the door behind them with a shrug, not offering any explanation before they continued walking down the street. The pack moved along slowly, as to not attract any attention to themselves. Even though Stiles apparently could have run up and down the street without being attacked, he seemed to understand their need to move slowly in order to stay undetected.

First, Stiles took them to see the barrier that he had created to protect the town. It was crudely made, and could easily be made better, but Stiles was so proud of the thing, that none of them shared their ideas for improvement with him. That could come later.

Derek glanced back towards Allison when they moved towards the town center, making sure that she was okay to go through the hordes of zombies. Allison actually appeared to be enjoying the trip, and was listening attentively to whatever Stiles was saying. If anything it was Isaac who was the nervous one.

Stiles told them which of his neighbors’ houses contained which herbs and how to use them. He babbled about herbs for close to ten minutes before Lydia managed to get him back on track. They stopped outside of the high school, and Derek looked up at the familiar building with mixed feelings. The building held so many memories of his family, and he himself had been in high school when his entire family died, and Laura had whisked him away to New York.

Stiles looked like he was about to burst with excitement as he ushered them all inside the building. Scott took of the moment they were inside the building, but Stiles seemed unconcerned that his zombie friend had apparently just run of.

“Okay, this place is my pride and joy. If any of you sabotage this, I will kill you” Stiles said with a straight face. It was always difficult to hear lies when they were hidden in jokes and sarcasm, but Stiles’ heart didn’t skip a beat which caused most of the betas to uncomfortably shuffle their feet.

Scott returned shortly after, and Stiles took one look at what he was holding before sighing and signaling that he could do whatever it was that he evidently had planned. Scott slowly shuffled forward before holding out a small plastic container with a couple of strawberries in it. He offered the container to Allison first, who smiled, seemingly unaware of her mate’s glowering. Afterwards the zombie practically shoved the entire thing at Kira, with something similar to a nervous smile. Kira just beamed at him, a smile no less radiant than the one Allison had offered, and took the strawberries, slapping away Liam’s hands as he tried to take some. Kira offered the zombie a small ‘thank you’ and floundered for a bit, obviously wanting to offer a hug, or a pat on the shoulder as she would have done for the pack, before she settled on another smile. The pack was extremely tactile, and even though Kira wasn’t a wolf she had taken to it quickly.

Stiles impatiently led them down one of the corridors; one that Derek knew was the way to the cafeteria. Derek could smell it and hear it before they were even near the doors. It reminded him a trip to a nearby farm that he had taken with his family as a child. He had been ecstatic, as none of the farm animals had been afraid of him like all of the animals in the woods were.

He signaled to the others that they shouldn’t say anything, feeling a strange need to maintain Stiles’ enthusiasm for a long a possible. If anyone asked, he would simply say that he didn’t want to clue an outsider in on their secret. Stiles seemed to have a flair for the dramatic; the rest of the pack would probably have said it takes one to know one. When Stiles pushed open the cafeteria doors it was with big arm movements and a loud ta-daa, before he did a minor pirouette and started walking backwards into the room. 

Stiles was clearly enjoying their shock and astonishment, and even Derek felt his jaw practically hit the floor. He had expected maybe a couple of farm animals, as Stiles was the only one that needed to be fed, but what he saw was something completely different.

The different animal pens where crafted much more skillfully than the barrier surrounding the town. However, it was obvious that they had seen multiple repairs over the years. Most pens were filled to the brim with healthy looking and healthy smelling animals. There were poultry, pigs, cows, sheep, goats and even horses. It was slightly overwhelming.

The blackboards that had been hanging on the walls in the cafeteria, back when it was used as a cafeteria, were now located by each of the pens, detailing the needs of that specific animal. They used to have corny slogans on them and the specials when there were any.

Kira was already squealing, eyes going dangerously close to orange, as she cooed at the new calves and pet the horses. Lydia, surprisingly, was not far behind her, though she was more reserved in her reaction. The entire pack spread out, and Stiles smiled as he watched them fawn over his animals. Chris was the last to enter, and he bypassed all of the animals to look over Stiles’ workbench with Lydia. All Derek could see was a bunch of books and charts, mixed with a cornucopia of barely intelligible hand-written notes.

None of it made any sense to Derek, but he could hear Chris and Lydia asking questions, all of which Stiles seemed perfectly happy to answer. He seemed to know everything about the animals, and Derek couldn’t help but smile a bit as Stiles went off on a tangent concerning gestation and breeding which caused Chris in particular to appear uncomfortable. Lydia only smirked as Stiles prattled on.

Chris eventually excused himself to go and check on Allison. Stiles only shrugged, and turned to look at the rest of the pack. His heartbeat sped up for no apparent reason, before he calmed himself once more. Derek wasn’t able to smell what was going on with Stiles, as the smell of the animals clouded almost everything, and Derek wasn’t all that acquainted with Stiles’ scent. However, Stiles’ scent was somewhat familiar, and Derek knew that it wouldn’t take much before it became as ingrained into his memory as the scents of the rest of the pack. It was an unsettling thought.

Derek was actually rather surprised that none of the animals had reacted badly to their makeshift home being invaded by dangerous predators. As far as Derek was aware, the animals should recognize them as predators, if not by smell, then by some other undefinable instinct. However, as he watched Scott move closer and closer to the animals without them reacting, he began to see why they were so calm.

While Derek was busy watching Scott and Kira over by the horses, Stiles sidled up to him. “So whaddya think?” He asked, blinking his big golden eyes up at Derek, who became so distracted that he failed to answer Stiles’ question.

“Wow, not a big talker are you?” Stiles huffed, before making a move to go join the others by the sheep.

“Wait” Derek said, reaching out to put a hand on Stiles’ arm surprising both himself and Stiles if his slightly widening eyes was anything to go by. He quickly pulled his hand back, not really sure why this strange boy was having such a big effect on him.

“I didn’t mean to be rude” Derek started out haltingly. Cora evidently heard him from almost clear across the room, because she shouted ‘That’s just his default setting’ before continuing her conversation with Mason. Derek worried that Stiles would find it odd, that Cora had been able to hear them over all the noise from so far away, but Stiles’ only reaction was a snort of laughter. Hopefully, Stiles would interpret Derek glaring at his sister as a reaction to her words, and not her carelessness.

“If you weren’t trying to be rude, what were you doing?” Stiles asked, mouth quirking up in one corner.

“I was just admiring everything you’ve built.” Derek answered honestly, used to being around werewolves, who can easily tell when people are lying. Also, he had a policy that he would try to always tell his pack the truth, as he had already learned the consequences of keeping things from them. However, he had no idea when the notion of Stiles being pack had entered his mind. When he and the rest of the pack had offered their assistance, they had simply wanted to join forces so that they wouldn’t all die. Stiles becoming part of the pack hadn’t really come up, but Lydia did keep throwing knowing looks in his direction. If Lydia wanted Stiles in the pack, Derek knew better than to argue. Besides, Stiles might be a good addition to the pack, provided that he didn’t freak out over the whole werewolf thing.

Stiles looked at him somewhat shyly with a small and adorable blush spreading across his cheeks. “Really?” Stiles asked, to which Derek simply nodded. It seemed to be good enough because Stiles smiled in response.

Stiles shook his head a couple of times, casting one final look at Derek before he stepped forward and addressed the room as a whole. “I actually have some more things to show you, if you would just follow me… wow I sound like a tour-guide” he laughed, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck self-consciously.

Stiles showed them around the school, explaining how things worked, which barriers were most important and how he would like the pack to pitch in, if they wanted to stay in town. When they reached six classrooms, each one filled with either cats, dogs or various rodents, Derek was certain that Kira was about to faint with how fast her heart was beating. She was running from room to room unable to contain her glee. Liam and Mason were right on her heals. Derek couldn’t help but send Stiles a questioning look as Kira cuddled a guinea pig to her chest.

“I raided people’s houses, when I knew that they had pets.” Stiles offered as explanation. “Thank god for small towns, where everyone knows everyone, am I right”. Derek looked at the boy before him in wonder. Most people wouldn’t even have thought to do that. Stiles seemed to sense that Derek was waiting for an explanation, because he continued talking.

“My eh… my mother was always really into animals. She loved them, and I couldn’t just let them die. I um… I didn’t –couldn’t – save her, so…” Stiles trailed of, but Derek nodded his head in understanding. He understood. He himself had lost his first pack, unable to save them, and now he was trying to make sure that his new pack would be safe.

Stiles offered him a small smile, and Derek was glad to see that Stiles had taken his silence as understanding and compassion rather than indifference.

Chris and Parrish were looking at the walls next to the different doors, as they were covered in sharpie markings indicating which animals were related to one another. Their looks prompted Stiles to start babbling about possible mutations if he didn’t keep an eye on the different animals.

Soon after Lydia rolled her eyes. “Come on Kira, I want to see Stiles’ crops. It was okay when I could look over breeding charts and the likes with the livestock, but this isn’t all that interesting.” Lydia said, as Kira let herself be physically dragged out of the classroom.

Stiles locked the doors, so that the animals couldn’t escape, before he quickly bounded after Lydia and Kira. Chris looked at their retreating backs as if to say ‘why are they acting like that?’ Derek noticed though, how his face softened as he saw Allison watching the kittens through the window with a small smile on her lips.

“We better follow them, before we get lost in here.” Isaac said, placing an arm around Allison’s waist and leading her down the hall.

The rest of the pack followed, and Derek was only slightly unnerved to hear Scott dragging his feet behind them. It felt so strange for Derek to be back in Beacon Hills again, walking through the same halls as he had when he was younger. It took some time before he realized where they were heading, as the usual smell of chlorine was entirely absent. When Derek was in High School he used to spend a lot of his time at the pool. He had been on both the swim team and on the basketball team.

When they reached the pool they pushed the double doors open, and Derek was once again floored. If someone had asked him five minutes previously if anything could surprise him after all that he had seen, he would have said ‘no’. Now, when Derek looked around, he knew that he would have been lying if he had said no.

The entire pool had been emptied of water, hence the lack of chlorine, and had instead been filled with dark dirt, which was now practically invisible due to the many plants sprouting from the ground. Lydia was already kneeling next to some of the plants, and Derek could see her narrowing her eyes in thought. It looked like she was methodically memorizing every plant, and planning how to optimize growth. Derek had no idea whether or not she actually knew anything about plants, but knowing Lydia, she probably did to some extent.

Once again, practically the entire pack looked around the room in a shocked daze for at least ten minutes, before they started asking a multitude of questions sometimes at the same time. Stiles never seemed reluctant to answer them, in fact he seemed ecstatic if somewhat overwhelmed by all of the attention. If Stiles truly had been alone for as long as he had said, Derek could understand if he was a bit overwhelmed by the rambunctious pack.

Derek was watching Stiles converse with Mason and Liam, when Cora moved from where she was sniffing the tomatoes to where Derek stood by the side of the room. She greeted him with an elbow to the side, causing Derek to growl at her under his breath.

“What!” Derek asked annoyed, forcing his eyes away from Stiles and by extension Scott and Kira who stood by his side.

“What do you mean what! Don’t you see it?” Cora asked incredulously. Derek merely shrugged, not entirely sure what his sister was referring to.

“Come on Derek! Something weird is going on, how can you not see that?” Cora asked, face scrunched up in equal parts confusion and irritation. “Just because Lydia used to be his best friend and you’re distracted by his pretty face does not mean that something here isn’t unnatural”. When Derek refused to react to her bait, she just barreled on “I mean, I can smell the fucking cocoa beans from here, and I _know_ that with your love for Nutella you can too. And don’t even bother trying to lie to me! Crops are growing side by side, when normally they wouldn’t even belong on the same hemisphere.”

Derek turned to fully face his sister, lowering his voice. “I don’t know what you want me to say. I know that this all seems so impossible, but for some reason I believe him. My wolf believes him, and believes that he wishes us no harm… but I also know that I’m not the best judge of character, so I’ll call a pack meeting tonight, and we can discuss what to do, okay?” Derek said, hating the look of concern and pity that crossed his sister’s face.

“Derek, that’s not what I meant, I swear…” Cora whispered urgently, until Derek cut her off with a move of his hand.

“I know, that’s not what you meant, but I still think we should talk about this. As a pack” Derek whispered, trying to chase the bad thoughts away.

Cora nodded, and Derek could see how hard she struggled with what to say next. He simply squeezed her arm softly, offering her an even softer smile that still felt unfamiliar on his face. But he was trying, and he could tell that the pack appreciated it. Cora elbowed him in the side again, her way of apologizing he supposed, before she moved to join Isaac, copying his distrustful glowering. 

If Derek was honest with himself, he would say that he didn’t really remember much of the next couple of hours. He kept zoning out thinking about what Cora had said. Everything seemed too good to be true around here. Cora had been right when she said something didn’t feel natural. It made him worry for the safety of his pack, but at the same time his wolf was telling him that he was finally home, that he could finally relax and that he was finally safe. He didn’t know what to do with his conflicting emotions. The last time he and his wolf had ‘disagreed’ on something in this way was back when he had met Kate. Feeling those conflicting emotions once more scared him to no end. Now though, it was his wolf that was feeling trustful and Derek that was distrustful, which was the exact opposite of the last time.

Derek snapped out of his haze when Stiles loudly clapped his hands together and spoke addressing the girls of the group. “So I will take you lovely girls out shopping tomorrow, and you’ll probably need to bring those fancy ponchos of yours. The mall is filled with infected. Then we can see about acquiring some of those special female things that you wanted. And I have an idea for a more long term solution too, but you should be really glad that I didn’t use those things as fuel during the harsh winter a couple of years ago.” He winked at them, ignoring their unimpressed looks.

Derek had a pretty good idea of what they were talking about, but he also quickly decided that he didn’t really want to know. Clearly, it didn’t apply directly to him.

Soon after, they finished their tour, and slowly walked back to Stiles’ house. Stiles promised that they could look into repairing some of the other houses over the next few days. The entire pack went to sleep curled together in the living room with Allison on the sofa. Parrish was taking the first shift standing guard. The last thing Derek heard before he closed his eyes was Stiles and Scott moving around upstairs in Stiles’ room and then the sound of their door locking.


	7. New friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi :)
> 
> I know, I'm the absolute worst for not updating sooner, but life's been so hectic lately... Anyway, here 's another chapter :D. I'm not quite sure I like how it turned out, but hopefully you'll enjoy it :)

When Stiles woke up the next morning Scott was staring gloomily at him from where he was sitting in the desk chair. Stiles sat up, letting the sheet pool around his waist, and scrubbed a hand across his face, sighing as he turned to face Scott. “I’m sorry Scotty” Stiles mumbled, knowing that Scott’s foul mood stemmed from the fact that Stiles hadn’t allowed him to stay downstairs with the others, with Kira, during the night. Scott nodded his head, forgiving Stiles with the wordless action.

Stiles got out of bed, slowly pulling on some relatively clean clothes, before he haltingly descended the stairs. It seemed like the newcomers were still sleeping, but Stiles could see some movement, coordinated and decidedly awake, in the weird pile they had insisted on sleeping in.

He quietly opened the front door, to let Scott out of the house, and left a brief note on the whiteboard on the fridge before leaving the house himself. He took the bike, and peddled towards the school after he had made sure that Scott knew which parts of the barrier he needed to check.

The dogs at the police station were fed on the way to school, and Stiles quickly hurried on his way. Once there, he checked the security, and made sure to feed the animals, check on his pregnant mare, and lead the horses into the indoors basketball court, which was lined with dirt, and served as their pasture. It was still a dream of his to turn the lacrosse field into a more appropriate pasture for the animals, and now that he had more hands on deck it seemed like it might be a possibility. It would spare him a lot of time if he didn’t have to frequently pick grass and bring it inside the school for the animals to eat.

It took him a while to figure out how many eggs he was supposed to collect for breakfast now that he had guests, but he figured that they were probably hungry. Normally, he wouldn’t have eaten breakfast for another hour or two, depending on the work needing to be done, but he knew that normal people ate breakfast first thing in the morning. That is, if the many tv-shows he had watched were to be believed.

Humming to himself as he gathered the stuff for breakfast, he made some mental notes as to what needed to be done that day. He knew himself enough to know that he would probably be on his guests’ nerves relatively quickly, as he taught them how things worked. He would probably be hovering over everyone’s shoulders to make sure that they did the work properly… He would have to make sure that he kept himself in check, at least to the degree that they didn’t want to murder him within the first day.

The sound of the school front door opening and closing, was loud enough for him to hear it over the sounds of the animals, and it sent a chill down his spine.

“Scott?” He called out, already knowing that it wouldn’t be his best friend. Scott was supposed to be on the other side of town; Stiles’ meager effort to keep some distance between him and the newcomers.

Stiles moved to the nearest pen, distractedly petting the animals while he listened out for whoever had entered the building. He moved over to the cafeteria doors, quickly bending down to retrieve his favorite bat. Logically, he knew that the possibility of something malicious moving through the halls were minimal at best, but with adrenalin pumping through his body, he wasn’t ashamed to admit that logic had taken somewhat of a backseat.

When the doors to the cafeteria opened, the bat was ripped from his hands before he even had a chance to properly see who had entered. The bat clattered to the floor, and Stiles looked up to see Derek regarding him with narrowed eyes.

“Stiles” he practically growled.

“Uh… hey Derek” Stiles began, embarrassed of his overreaction. That is, if they hadn’t sent Derek to kill him. He certainly looked like he wanted to kill him. “What are you doing here?” He asked, wiping his slightly sweaty palms on his pants.

“Where did you get that?” Derek asked instead, gesturing to the wooden bat still lying on the ground.

Stiles picked the bat up of the ground, and put it against the wall just out of reach. He hoped that Derek could see the action for the peace offering that it was, but he had his doubts when he looked at the way Derek was glaring daggers at the bat.

“Answering a question with a question, just isn’t polite Derek, but since I am the epitome of politeness I’ll answer your question first; I made it.”

Derek’s eyebrows rose. “You made it”

“Yes, I made it. Why is that so hard to believe.”

Derek’s eyebrows rose even further to show his disbelief. Stiles groaned. “I went into the woods and saw a branch on the ground. I picked it up and sawed and sanded it into a bat.”

Derek frowned. “You just picked a random branch of off the ground”

“Well…yeah” Stiles shrugged not really understanding Derek’s line of questioning. “Now, my question. What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to see if you needed help with anything” Derek finally answered, seemingly having given up on glaring the bat out of exitance.

It seemed odd to Stiles, not that Derek was offering help, but that he was the only one there. Then again, Stiles was used to doing practically everything by himself, so an extra pair of hands would go a long way.

“Sure, you can help. I was thinking about making crepes for breakfast, if that’s okay? Do you know how to churn butter?” Stiles asked shouldering his pitchfork, and moving towards the nearest pen. Derek trailed after him, with a slightly lost expression on his face. Stiles started shoveling manure into the nearby empty plastic tub.

When Derek didn’t say anything for another couple of minutes, Stiles turned to him leaning on the pitchfork. “So can you? Churn butter that is”. At Derek’s sullen ‘no’, Stiles hid a small smile in the crook of his arm. Derek pouting was downright adorable.

“It’s easy, come on I’ll show you” Stiles said jumping out of the pen not bothering to open the gate. “I should warn you though, it’s hard work. I have so much respect for the ladies who did this back in the day.”

Stiles was pleased to see that Derek at least had the basic knowledge of how to churn butter as he immediately started moving towards the churn standing near the wall. However, what he was about to say pleased him even more. “Derek… I hate to burst your bubble, but you need milk before you can churn butter” He gestured towards the cows standing in one of the pens. As Stiles had hoped Derek blanched even further, before he glared, seemingly realizing how much Stiles enjoyed yanking his chain.

Finally, Stiles took some pity on him. Stiles shouldn’t be making fun of Derek simply because he didn’t know how to churn butter. Derek had shown up wanting to help, and Stiles would be damned if he didn’t let it show that he was grateful for the help.

“I’ll milk the cow for you, or if you want I can show you how to do it and you can try after?” Stiles asked, abandoning his mischievous grin for a more sincere expression.

Derek simply gestured for Stiles to go ahead, but said nothing in return. Stiles winced wondering how badly he had messed up. His mother always did say that he was a trickster. Stiles had always translated that as ‘too annoying for most people’.

Stiles grabbed the bucket hanging on the fence, before he entered the enclosure. It took him a minute to find the cow that seemed to be the most sore, before he tied a rope around her neck, and led her out of the enclosure. Without having to be told to do so, Derek opened the gate for them and closed it after them. Stiles offered him a smile in return, and was pleased to see the corner of Derek’s mouth twitching.

He led the cow into an even smaller enclosure. It was horseshoe formed and consisted of only two walls, and a small wooden beam to prevent her from moving forward. Stiles didn’t even bother to bind her before he squatted down next to her, placing the bucket under her udder.

It only took him a couple of minutes to get the bucket mostly filled, and he talked the entire time he was working, telling Derek everything he was doing. He gave Derek the bucket and gestured for him to move closer to the churn. Stiles quickly led the cow back to her enclosure, and released the rope form around her neck.

Derek was a surprisingly quick learner when it came to churning butter. Once Stiles had added the milk, and the salt and told him what to do, he seemed confident enough that Stiles left him to it. Instead Stiles resumed mucking the stalls, starting with the ones belonging to the horses.

They worked for another half hour, before Derek came to a halt, peering down into the churn, a small frown on his face. “Stiles” he called.

“Yeah?” he called back, while concentrating on not dropping the sheep manure all over the floor. That shit was heavy. Pun very much intended.

“I think it’s all butter now”

Stiles paused his movement, craning his head to look over his shoulder at Derek. Even for Derek and his muscles that was surprisingly fast. Normally, Stiles didn’t bother making too much butter, but since there had been an increase in inhabitants he figured that having a lot of butter in the fridge might be an advantage. This was why it was even more shocking that Derek had finished the task already, but sure enough, when Stiles went to have a look he could see only butter and buttermilk.

“Huh” He said, scratching at the back of his head. “That was fast. Guess having muscles really pays off. There should be enough butter there for a long time… how much butter do you guys usually use? Did you have any butter where you came from?”

Derek shrugged “We lived in a rather big colony near New York, but we mostly ate canned foods and whatever we could catch or find while out scouting.”

Hearing that the others came from a big colony near New York lit a spark of hope inside Stiles’ chest. He knew that it was dangerous to feel that kind of hope, but over the years he had come to prefer the hope over the pessimism and the realism. He knew that his father had been in Washington DC, at the time of the outbreak, and he had a hunch that it might have been because of the outbreak that he was needed in DC at all. If Derek and the other came from a big settlement near New York it was possible that his father might be in another settlement near DC. He wanted to ask Derek if he knew of any other settlements, but he wasn’t sure he could bear it if Derek told him that there was no Washington DC colony.

It took them another ten minutes before they had removed all of the butter from the churn and molded them into bars using some old forms. Stiles used the ladle to fish up the remaining buttermilk. It could be used to feed the pigs.

They placed the butter on a small trailer, next to the eggs that Stiles had gathered earlier. The trailer used to contain newspapers before the outbreak, and had come in handy many times, as it could be fastened to Stiles’ bike. Stiles had the rest of the ingredients at home in his fridge.

They left the cafeteria, and Stiles pulled the doors closed behind them. As they walked down the hallways the silence began to eat at him. It had been comfortable while they were both working, but now he almost desperately wanted to fill the silence. He finally had someone to talk to that could actually talk back, so they shouldn’t be walking in silence. He said the first thing that came to mind. “Do any of you have construction experience?”

Derek glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, but didn’t fully turn his head. “I think Chris might have some experience, but I know that we’re all pretty good with our hands.”

“Cool, cool. That’s good. I have a something that I want to build, for the animals, and it would be nice to have someone who actually knows what they’re doing.”

This made Derek turn to look at him. “I think it’s safe to say that you know what you’re doing Stiles” Derek said, tipping his head back towards the cafeteria.

Stiles blushed slightly at the praise, clearing his throat before he spoke again. “Thank you, and thank you for your help today. It’s nice to have someone to work alongside.”

Derek simply nodded his head, acknowledging what Stiles had said. Once Derek had his poncho on, Stiles opened the doors and they moved outside. Locking the doors, Stiles turned and fastened the trailer to his bike.

Infected moved around them as they walked down the street. Stiles was humming to himself, in contrast to Derek, who remained deadly silent, while his eyes moved around taking in the surroundings. Stiles found himself looking at Derek, admiring his slow and calculated movements, as well as the way the sunlight played across his prominent cheekbones. Stiles was perfectly aware that he was starring, but he hadn’t been this close to a living person since he was twelve. He was uselessly trying to convince himself that he would have stared at anyone, and would have reacted the same way had it not been Derek walking besides him. Even inside his own head the statement seemed false.

He was so deep in thought that he didn’t notice where he was going, and found himself tripping over something. He tried to keep one hand on the bike so that it wouldn’t fall, but this only seemed to disrupt his balance even further. He was absolutely sure that he was about to hit the ground, when two strong arms found their way around his waist, steadying him on his feet.

The quick movement on Derek’s part caused a few of the infected to turn their way, and they both froze. They were standing closely together, Derek’s arms settled firmly around Stiles’ waist, as they tried to remain silent. Stiles had never before had to worry about the infected, but he couldn’t help but worry now, as he had no idea if he was capable of calling attention to Derek. As the infected quickly lost interest, Stiles turned his head from looking at the infected to looking at Derek, who was much closer than Stiles had anticipated. Their noses almost touched, as they had both turned to look at one another. They remained silent for another minute, studying one another while practically breathing the same air, before Stiles swallowed the lump in his throat and whispered a ‘thank you’. Derek gave a single nod of his head, before he slowly started to let go of Stiles.

Once Derek had completely let go of him, they started moving again, with Stiles keeping his eyes intently on the ground, trying to will away the completely irrational feeling of loss that was slowly filling up his chest.


	8. The dangers of shopping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi :)   
> Here's another chapter. I'm so sorry for the delay. I was supposed to be done with this chapter ages ago, but for some reason I just couldn't get it finished on time. I had the worst writers block... but I finished it, and it I've already started on the next chapter, so the updates should be more frequent from here on out :) 
> 
> I hope you like it :D

When Stiles and Derek arrived back at the house, Stiles gleefully burst into the house, carrying as much of the produce as he could. Derek entered the house at a more sedate pace, carrying the rest, all the while wondering how Stiles could demonstrate such energy so early in morning after already having mucked a lot of stalls.

The pack seemed like they were all awake, but barely. Their movements were sleep-heavy, but their heartbeats told Derek that they were mostly awake. Allison was still sleeping, which seemed like a small miracle, considering that she, since having gotten pregnant, usually woke due to the faintest of sounds. Kira was the most awake out of all of them. She was newly-showered, already dressed, and was sitting on the arm of the couch polishing her katanas. Derek suspected that she had been the one standing guard until they all woke up. As someone, who liked to sleep in (but rarely allowed himself to do so), Derek couldn’t figure out why Kira loved getting up so early, but he was grateful nonetheless. Kira’s love of an early start to the day allowed the rest of the pack to sleep.

When Derek poked his head into the kitchen to see if there was anything he needed to do, Stiles didn’t even look up from where he was busy making batter. Instead Derek tapped Liam on the shoulder, and gestured that he should wake up the rest of the pack.

Liam and Mason ended up setting the table. Mason had asked Stiles if he should set the table, and upon receiving a ‘yes’, he dragged a somewhat reluctant Liam with him into the kitchen. There was only room for six people around the dining room table, so the coffee table ended up being covered in plates, glasses and silverware as well.

Allison and Isaac were in the upstairs bathroom, showering, and ended up descending the stairs just as Stiles exited the kitchen carrying an almost obscene amount of pancakes. If Derek didn’t know any better he would say that Stiles knew he was cooking for werewolves.

“Food’s ready” Stiles said, as if everyone wasn’t already seated and looking at the pancakes practically salivating due to the delicious smell.

No one spoke for almost half an hour, too busy eating to do anything else. Stiles seemed to take everything in stride, even when Liam and Isaac both had five servings. Cora was still eyeing Stiles with suspicion, but even she ate her fair share of the food. Derek was surprised that Stiles seemed so calm surrounded by strangers, but he suspected that Stiles was still carrying his knife on him. Not that the knife would do any real damage against werewolves, but Stiles didn’t know that of course.

When Isaac and Liam were the only ones left still eating, Stiles cleared his throat. When everyone turned to look at him, he seemed to regret bringing attention to himself and looked down at the table. When he looked up again he licked his lips, causing Derek to stare at his mouth for what was probably an inappropriate amount of time. Only when he started speaking did Derek manage to focus on something else.

“If you still wanna go to the mall, it’s a good idea to do that today. There aren’t as much to be done at the school today, so it’s probably one of the only days where we can make time for the trip. There are a lot of infected in there though, so you should bring your ponchos if you’re tagging along.”

All of the girls said that they wanted to go, even Cora. Allison going, led to both Chris and Isaac going as well. In the end Derek opted to stay back, which Stiles seemed both grateful and regretful for. Derek could understand the feeling as he himself wanted to be both places at once. He hated not having the pack all in the same place. He hated not being able to protect everyone in the pack should it come to it.

The girls were getting ready to leave trying to get any available wolf to sniff at their poncho without Stiles noticing. Derek decided to take pity on them and motioned for Stiles and Chris to join him in the kitchen.

Derek turned to address Stiles first “Stiles, you mentioned something about some expansion plans, something you wanted to build for the animals?”

“Huh” came Stiles’ answer before he shook his head slightly, a pink blush high on his cheeks. “Yeah! I wanted to convert the old lacrosse field into a safe paddock for the animals. They are in desperate need of the sunlight, and them being able to graze would save me some time and some crops. But so far, I haven’t really had the time or the manpower to actually build something.”

“You want to know if I can build something like that” Chris stated, but Derek couldn’t figure out who he was speaking to.

“Yes” they both said in unison, before turning to look at one another. Chris raised an eyebrow at them. When they continued to look at each other, Chris cleared his throat. Loudly. They both startled to attention making Chris huff out an exasperated puff of air. A couple of years ago it would have rubbed Derek the wrong way, but now he considered Chris a part of the pack, equal to any of the betas. Except maybe Cora. Cora had always been Derek’s favorite, but he felt he was allowed. She was his sister after all.

“I can take a look later today, after we’re finished at the mall” Chris said, his voice becoming a bit steely, as to make clear that he would under no circumstance let his daughter travel without him. Stiles barely even blinked at the sudden change of atmosphere.

“Of course” Stiles agreed, easy as breathing, even though Derek knew how much this new project meant to him.

Lydia poked her head into the kitchen. “If you boys are done being all secretive, we’re ready to go”

When Stiles looked at Lydia his eyes changed. They became softer and incredibly fond. It made something undefinable twist uncomfortably inside Derek. “Of course my queen” Stiles said with a flourish, and a smile.

When they opened the front door, they were greeted by Scott, who was standing on the other side, arm outstretched as if he had been about to open the door. Stiles pushed his way past all of them, so that he was standing in front of Scott.

Stiles rolled on the balls of his feet. “So? What’s the verdict? How’s the barrier? And how’s the mall?”

Scott groaned quietly, before actual words left his mouth. “Fine… Ma-a-ny.”. Whatever Scott had just said must have made sense to Stiles, as he frowned before he responded. “Well… Shit… that’s not good. Maybe we can reschedule? Or we can…” Stiles kept muttering to himself, so low that even werewolves had a hard time distinguishing the words from one another.

Finally, Lydia huffed loudly. “Stiles, care to enlighten us to what’s going on?”

“Oh, right, sorry! Scott was just telling me that there are a lot more infected in the mall than I had originally anticipated. I asked him to go over there, when he was done with his rounds. I didn’t want us to run into any surprises while we were there.” Stiles’ eyes flickered briefly over to Allison before darting away again.

Cora groaned “Fine, I’ll stay here and then Derek you can go with them”

“Cora” Derek growled before he could stop himself.

“Don’t get your panties in a twist. We both know that I’m a good fighter, but you’re better. They are going to need you out there if there really are as many zombies as… Scott… said.”

“Fine” Derek agreed. He somewhat prided himself on being an alpha that didn’t mind taking the occasional order from a beta, as long as he could see the reasoning behind it. One of the reasons he agreed was definitely the way Isaac’s shoulders slumped in relief at the suggestion.

Cora smirked before turning on her heal and walking back into the house, murmuring something along the lines of ‘that puppy-like zombie creeps me out anyways’.

Stiles looked at Cora’s retreating back with an unreadable expression. Derek too looked after her, mostly to avoid looking at Stiles, and risk getting caught starring.

Stiles cleared his throat, “Right! Well, we should probably get going”.

Slowly, they all filtered out of the house, blinking against the sharpness of the sun. Scott merely stared at the star, without flinching, until Stiles slapped him on the shoulder in a friendly manner. The walk to the mall clearly took longer than Stiles had expected, but he didn’t even seem annoyed every time Isaac called for a break. Allison glared evilly at Isaac every time, but she was still the first to sit down and sigh happily.

When they reached the mall, Derek was startled by the sheer amount of zombies present. Stiles even had to push some zombies aside before he could open a door to the mall. The rest of the pack looked on in silent awe and slight terror as Stiles pushed the undead around with ease.

There were just as many, if not more, zombies inside of the mall, as there had been outside of it. A quick glance around revealed the most obvious explanation; sale banners hung from the ceiling, and colorful stickers declaring 20-50% off covered almost every store.

“The number of zombies in here usually varies a lot, but it seems like this is one of the worse days.” Stiles said, from behind the group, were he was in the process of closing and securing the door.

“If their numbers vary, how are they getting in and out of the building then?” Kira asked, nodding her head towards the locked doors.

“Sometimes they are in the parking garage instead of in the actual mall” Stiles said with a shrug of his shoulders.

Stiles clapped his hands together, making Isaac jump. Derek was a tiny bit impressed with Stiles’ ability to ignore Isaac’s following glare. “So, where do you guys wanna go first?”.

“Pharmacy” everyone said quietly at once.

A nearby zombie reacted to their quiet voices, but Scott quickly pushed the zombie away, which it seemed to accept as it shuffled away from the group.

Stiles nodded and they all followed him through the mall moving slowly. Stiles could move a great deal faster than the rest of them so he used the time to carefully lead the zombies towards the elevators to the parking garage. Stiles surprised Derek once more with how careful and respectful he was with the zombies. He would gently grab them by the elbow to lead them away from the others, mummering apparent nonsense the entire time.

Scott was walking behind all of them, for once able to keep up with the rest of them. Normally, Derek wouldn’t be comfortable turning his back to a zombie, but Scott was walking alongside Kira. If anything were to happen, Kira would take care of it in a second. Those katanas were deadly in anyone’s hands, but even more so in Kira’s.

Luckily, the pharmacy wasn’t far away. Derek had been halfway afraid that Isaac would spontaneously combust, at seeing Allison in such close proximity with so many zombies. The doors to the pharmacy were closed and Stiles fished a bundle of keys from his pocket and unlocked the doors. Once, they were all inside, Stiles locked up behind them.

The pharmacy was severely lacking… well, everything. Every shelf was emptied of its contents, except the few shelves they were there for. The shelves containing maternity and baby products as well as feminine hygiene were left untouched. Derek could almost imagine seeing cobwebs and a thick layer of dust covering everything.

Lydia marched, without embarrassment, to the feminine hygiene section and started emptying everything from the shelves into three different bags. Derek supposed that she had some sort of system, it was Lydia after all. They all left her to it, and started searching the maternity shelves for the prenatal vitamins. There were so many different brands that Derek felt slightly overwhelmed. Luckily, Chris remembered which brand Allison’s mother took while pregnant with Allison.

Derek decided that he could be more useful guarding them all, and leaned against the wall, facing the broad doorway to the rest of the mall. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Allison slowly moving over to look at pacifiers and bibs, while she rubbed at her stomach. Isaac kept casting looks in her direction, but every time he seemed like he was about to go to her, Chris asked him something and he was distracted. In the end, it was Stiles of all people who wandered over to Allison.

“I think you should get a bunch of those” Stiles said quietly, gesturing to the different bibs hanging on the wall. Allison nodded, took one down from the wall, and rubbed the textile between her fingers. Derek could hear the sound of the fabric.

Stiles cleared his throat. “Not to be an alarmist or anything, but with the way Isaac was eating this morning, you might want to grab some more”.

Allison actually laughed, smothering the sound behind her hand. Stiles beamed, looking extremely proud of himself. Derek turned, from where he had been looking at the both of them, to expect the zombies wandering past them. Only the zombie closest to them reacted to the sound of Allison laughing, but it only took a gently nudge from Scott before it started walking away from them.

Stiles fidgeted, and Derek could hear his heart speed up slightly before he hesitantly patted Allison on her shoulder. Allison didn’t hesitate before she grabbed Stiles’ hand, briefly keeping it pinned to her shoulder. Allison squeezed his hand before she let go, and Stiles retreated further into the store, with a weird expression on his face.

Derek couldn’t help but keep his ears trained on Stiles, as he moved to stand next to Lydia. Derek felt the urge to growl as he watched how close Stiles stood to Lydia, their shoulders brushing against each other. He willfully ignored the urge and any and all possible reason behind it.

“Are we done yet?” Isaac whined, as he draped himself over Lydia’s back. Lydia merely rolled her eyes, and shoved Isaac off, before replying. “Almost, all we need is to get some women’s shaving gel”. Isaac nodded and instantly picked one of off the shelve. “What about this one?”.

Lydia shrugged, “Sure”.

Stiles who had been silently watching their exchange, quickly swiped another brand from the shelve and dropped it into the basket. “This one’s better” he said as way of explanation.

Lydia raised an eyebrow at him. “And how would you know that?” she asked with a smirk.

Stiles scowled. “I was thirteen. I got bored, okay. So sue me!”.

Isaac looked at Stiles for a couple of seconds before he started laughing, trying to muffle said laughter behind his hand. “You shaved your legs?! Multiple times?”.

“Hey, an experiment requires repetition, and I needed to be able to compare the different brands. I was simply being thorough” Stiles replied with a huff, and Derek could see a beautiful blush spreading over Stiles’ cheeks.

Soon after the pack was ready to leave the pharmacy, and move on to some of the other stores. Stiles kept petulantly mumbling about professional cyclists, but Derek tuned him out, choosing to focus on the zombies. The girls, and Isaac, wanted to get some new clothes, and Lydia, who was the most familiar with the mall, besides Stiles, lead the way to her favorite store.

Stiles and Scott made sure to remove each and every zombie from the store, before they closed the doors behind them, locking them all inside the tiny boutique with a foreign name Derek could barely pronounce and clothes so expensive it was almost laughable. He had no idea how a store like this would have ever been able to thrive in a small town like Beacon Hills, but evidently it had. Derek had to admit though, that it was some very nice clothes; Not really his style, but there was no lingering smell of chemicals like with so many other clothes.

Chris kept watch, and Derek joined him, positioning himself so that he could watch both the various zombies passing by and the pack.

Out of caution they only let one person try on clothes at the time, so that only one person would be without their protective poncho. This led to something of a fashion show, where whoever was trying on clothes, walked through the shop, so that the rest could share their opinions. There were dramatic turns, twirls and from Stiles he saw an extreme amount of flailing.

Kira kept falling and tripping over her own feet. For someone who was so agile and deadly with a pair of katanas, it was amazing that she could be so clumsy the rest of the time. By now, Kira had retired from the fashion game. Instead, she was sitting on the sidelines energetically talking with, or at, Scott, who seemed to be following the conversation and even chip in a few words of his own. Derek watched them for a while, intrigued and slightly weirded out by what he saw. The last time Kira had tripped, during her time on the ‘catwalk’, Scott had managed to catch her before she hit the ground. Knowing Kira, she would have faceplanted rather than catch herself with her arms. Scott had caught her in a surprisingly fast move, and it painfully reminded Derek of how he himself had caught Stiles earlier in the day. Derek’s eyes had flittered over to Stiles unwillingly, and their eyes had locked. Before they both broke eye contact, Stiles had sent a small smile his way.

Derek shook his head, and turned from looking at Scott and Kira, to where Isaac was trying on a bunch of different scarfs, along with a new shirt. Lydia vetoed most of the scarfs, but allowed Isaac to keep a deep blue one, saying that it matched his eyes. Allison agreed with Lydia, and Isaac beamed before bending down to offer Allison a small chaste peck on the lips. Derek could see Isaac’s eyes flitter towards Chris before he kissed Allison, and Derek had to keep from snorting a laugh. Isaac was still so uncomfortable being affectionate with Allison in front of Chris, no matter how small the gesture. Derek was pretty sure no abstinence from Allison or Isaac’s side could ever fool Chris as to what they had been up to. Allison’s growing stomach was pretty damning evidence.

Derek was so lost in thought, a small smile gracing his face, that he only noticed Stiles nearing when he slumped against the wall next to Derek. They watched the continued fashion show in silence for a minute, backs pressed against the wall, and shoulders almost touching. Derek couldn’t figure out whether he wanted to press closer to Stiles, so that their shoulders would touch, or distance himself from the alluring warmth Stiles was emanating.

Stiles scratched at his nose, and Derek found it unjustifiably endearing.

“So, the others were thinking of going to the maternity store, for some clothes for Allison and then to the store selling sporting goods and equipment. Is there any particular store you want to visit? Just warning you though, the bookstore is empty.”

Derek couldn’t help but arch an eyebrow. “So, books you bring home to your house, but soap and shaving cream you left in the mall?” It seemed like a weird way to prioritize.

Stiles threw his head back and laughed, pale throat on display. “Yeah, I could see how that would seem strange. But, those books kept me alive. They taught me everything I know, and kept me company. To be honest, I think I learned most of my, admittedly very lacking, social skills from books. Besides, I grow this like soap root at the school and at home” Stiles said, shrugging his shoulders.

Derek swallowed thickly before quietly clearing hos throat. He could understand where Stiles was coming from. After the death of his family, Laura had whisked both of them away to New York. Derek had spent weeks crying, months numb to anything but Laura and the stories she would read aloud to him. Then the apocalypse had happened, and well… Derek hadn’t really had the time to read since.

“Okay” He said, not sure how to respond, which was becoming a bit of a theme whenever he spoke to Stiles.

The rest of the pack seemed to be done trying on clothes, and packed whatever they wanted to keep down in plastic bags. They left the bags in front of the store to pick up on their way out. The vitamins for Allison were in their backpacks.

They didn’t have to walk for long before they reached the maternity store. If Derek didn’t know any better he would have thought that Lydia specifically choose the previous store based on its proximity to the maternity store.

Allison spent quite some time looking at maternity clothes. Part of why it took so long was because she wanted to be absolutely certain that she found something she would be comfortable in, and the other part was because this store was more open, so that they hadn’t been able to get the last couple of zombies out of the store.

Everyone was tense as Allison looked around the store. Funnily enough, she seemed the most calm, but Derek could see the tension in the arm she had wrapped around her stomach. Allison had to remove her poncho, so that she could try on the clothes, and everyone stood around her in a small circle, trying to mask the smell of her from the zombies.

Derek didn’t even see it happen. From one second to the next, Kira accidentally knocked over a rack of necklaces that clattered noisily to the ground. Every zombie in the shop turned to look at them almost simultaneously. It was as if time sped up, and the zombies started moving towards them, their otherwise slow and sluggish movements becoming faster and more refined.

Scott surprised Derek by quickly moving to Kira’s side, shielding her. He had barely managed to get his arms around her, before Stiles shouted “Scott – Allison!”.

Derek thought he saw a glimmer of hesitance in Scott’s eyes, before he practically threw himself on Allison, trying to gently encircle her with his arms. As Scott moved to shield Allison, Stiles jumped in front of Kira, halting the zombies’ approach.

It had all happened so fast that Derek barely even had time to react.

“Leave” was all Stiles said, but his hard voice reverberated in the small store, and settled deep in Derek’s bones as an uncomfortable vibration. Unearthly silence followed the command, and as every zombie, except Scott, turned to leave, Stiles collapsed on the floor, unconscious.


	9. Truth be told

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi :)   
> Here's another chapter. I'm so sorry that it took so long for me to update. I've honestly never had this much trouble with a chapter before. Writer's block hit me hard, but hopefully posting this will get the wheels in my head turning again :D

When Stiles opened his eyes, he was staring up at his own bedroom ceiling. He remained motionless for a couple of seconds before he slowly started to stretch his limbs one at the time. Other than being sore in muscles he didn’t even know he had, he felt fine. He tried to remember what had happened, but the only result was a rapidly worsening headache.

As slowly as possible Stiles sat up in the bed, every movement resulting in a sharp jab of pain spreading throughout his skull. He couldn’t hold back the colorful language that fell from his mouth.

A pointed cough coming from besides his bed, shocked him, so that he quickly turned to look. “Owww!” Stiles whined, as the quick movement brought forth another wave of pain. His vision swam, but he could still see Derek sitting in his desk chair with a book in his hands.

Derek raised the book he was holding between his hands. “I borrowed this, I hope you don’t mind”

“That didn’t sound like a question” Stiles grumbled, which was quickly followed by a rough guttural sound that Stiles knew to be Scott’s laugh. As slowly as possible, and trying to only move his eyes instead of actually turning his head, he looked to where Scott was sitting besides the bed, with his back against the wall.

“Hey, Scotty. My fierce protector!” Stiles said, reaching out to ruffle Scott’s curly hair. “And you’re sitting down, good for you!”

Scott smiled a bit and looked down to where he had his hands somewhat clasped in his lap. He started fidgeting, and clumsily twisting his shirt in his hands.

Stiles sighed “You can’t get up, can you?”

“No” Scott mumbled.

Stiles laughed, and some of the pain in his muscles and head disappeared. “Come on, I’ll help you”.

As Stiles swung his legs over the side of the bed everything seemed to tilt on its side for a minute. Strong hands gripped his shoulders and held him steady, and Stiles was unthinkingly clutching at whatever he could, until he could blink away the black spots dancing in front of his eyes. When everything stopped spinning, Stiles looked down to where he was tightly holding on to Derek’s forearms. He cleared his throat and quietly mumbled out a ‘thanks” before quickly letting go.

Derek nodded wordlessly, and took a step back, as Stiles slowly rose to his feet. He was a bit wobbly, but relatively quickly found his feet again.

Scott lifted his arms in the air, and stretched them towards Stiles, who was reminded of the way a toddler asks a parent to pick them up. He snorted, and Scott glared, seemingly having had the same train of thought.

Derek pointedly cleared his throat, and Stiles turned to look at him from where he had only just let go of Scott. “Stiles, we need to talk”.

The words sent a shiver down his back in a way only few other words had. It painfully reminded Stiles of the time his dad had said those exact words, after a then eleven-year-old Stiles had asked why his mother wasn’t home. Stiles only nodded in response to Derek’s request.

Derek stiffly moved towards the door leading to the hallway, once again clutching one of Stiles’ books in his hands. It was the same book he had been reading before, and Stiles could only make out enough of the title to know that it was one of the books that used to belong to Alan Deaton, the town’s veterinarian. Stiles had been thoroughly surprised when he had raided the animal clinic and found several books on the occult and the supernatural. Stiles had had no idea that Deaton was such a fan of mythical and supernatural lore. Now that Stiles thought about it, a lot of those books were rather weird. He hadn’t looked at them for quite some time. They unsettled him.

Stiles followed Derek down the stairs, the silence pressing down on him from every side. Everyone else was gathered in the living room taking up the entire couch and most of the floor. Stiles’ dad’s armchair was left empty, and Stiles would guess that it was for Derek, by the way he immediately steered towards it.

Once Derek had sat down, Stiles awkwardly stood in front of all of them, unsure of what to say, and nervously rubbing his own hands together.

When the silence had gone on for what felt like an eternity to Stiles, Lydia sighed and motioned to the others to make room for Stiles on the couch. He ended up seated between Lydia and the armrest. A loose threat from his pants leg seemed to call out to him, and it was infinitely more interesting than the people currently starring at him. Stiles was pretty sure that they weren’t even blinking. Not that he was looking of course, what with his pants being so interesting and all.

Slowly Derek leaned forward and placed Deaton’s book on the coffee table. “What do you know about this book”

Stiles scratched at his nose. “Nothing. I mean, I read it like once, a couple of years back. It didn’t really seem all that important” he shrugged.

“If it didn’t seem important, then why is it still in your house?” Cora asked, face serious. “Only important books are in your house, right?”

“Well yeah, but…” Stiles trailed off, uncomfortable.

“Why’s it in your house?” Cora asked again, and this time her voice took on a rough edge.

“I don’t know” Stiles admitted. He had no idea why he had kept that book. He wasn’t even sure that he had done so consciously. There was just something about it that had made him unable to leave it at the clinic.

With a huff, Cora crossed her arms and slumped back against the armchair she was seated in. Kira patted her knee from where she was sitting crossed legged on the floor, before she sent a small smile in Stiles’ direction.

Stiles was a bit annoyed, mostly because they seemed to be avoiding the giant elephant in the room. Why was the damn book so important anyway? It wasn’t even theirs. Stiles rubbed at his temple trying to remember what the book was about. What Stiles remembered most about the book was how annoyed he had been with it. He had been hoping that it was a veterinary textbook. Instead, it had been some sort of detailed history book on a family, who the book claimed were werewolves.

“Why do you have this book, Stiles?” Lydia asked, voice more gentle than Cora’s had been.

Stiles huffed out another annoyed breath. “I don’t know. There was just something about it, okay?” He flexed his fingers, before he sprang up from the couch and grabbed the book of off the table. “What’s even so important about… oh” Stiles said, as he looked down at the book in his hands.

_T. Hale_

The elegant cursive handwriting adorned the back cover of the book. Stiles cleared his throat “Who did it belong to?”

“Our mother” Derek answered, taking the book from Stiles, when he carefully held it out to him.

Stiles nodded, scratching at the back of his neck, before rubbing his hand over his mouth. When Derek had told him that his name was Derek Hale, Stiles had been too stressed and worried about Scott to think anything of it. Stiles had known of the Hale’s, and everybody heard about it when their house in the preserve burned down. Stiles had been ten years old at the time, and it was before his mother was admitted to the hospital, but after the first signs of illness had manifested. The tragedy had mainly manifested in his mind as the reason his dad couldn’t sleep, and still smelt vaguely of smoke. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know” Stiles said at last.

“This is such bullshit!” Cora suddenly yelled, jumping up from her seat. “He’s read the book. He obviously knows, just look at what he did at the mall!”

It must have been a trick of the light, but Stiles could have sworn that Cora’s eyes flashed gold for a second, before she was out of the door and running into the backyard. Surprisingly, Lydia was quick to rise from her seat as well, and walk towards the door Cora had still left open.

“Don’t fuck this up, Hale” was her only remark, before she left the house to go after Cora. 

“Sorry about Cora” Derek said, bringing Stiles’ attention back to the people still currently in the living room. “Our mother’s scent was still on the book, and…” Derek trailed of, eyes clouding over with some emotion Stiles couldn’t really interpret. Even his eyebrows weren’t easily read.

It took Stiles a little too much time to pinpoint what exactly seemed odd in that sentence. “Her scent?” Stiles asked, tilting his head. Any lingering perfume would have dissipated years ago. Or at least it should have.

“Do you remember what the book is about?” Derek asked instead of answering, and Stiles was almost tempted to count to ten backwards in his head. It shouldn’t be this hard to get someone to answer a question. When people were this evasive, it was usually because they were hiding something. Stiles had learnt that from his dad, just like he had learnt that if someone wanted to tell you something you should let them speak, rather than risk them changing their minds and clamming up.

“Yeah” was all Stiles offered up. He could totally show restraint, and not word-vomit all over them. That way he could see in which direction Derek wanted to take this conversation.

Derek shifted around restlessly in the chair, looking around at the other people in the room. Stiles almost wanted to do a little shimmy, having taken back the conversation. He had felt like they were all ganging up on him, asking him questions he didn’t understand the importance of, and refusing to answer any of his.

He sat back down on the couch, crossing one leg over the other. A little voice in his head kept whispering that sitting down for the next part of the conversation might be a good idea.

“You remember the family the book mentioned?” Derek asked, looking intensely at Stiles.

Stiles drummed a small rhythm on his calf with his fingers before answering. “Yeah, but it never mentioned them by name”

“There’s a reason for that” Derek said, pausing to look down at his knees, and Stiles had to agree that they were in fact very pretty knees, but he was actually more interested in what was being said. “My family, the Hales, we’re the family in the book”

Stiles hesitated before slightly leaning forwards towards Derek. “So, what you’re saying is that you’re actually werewolves?”

It seemed absolutely insane, but the more Stiles thought about it the more it made sense. Ever since Derek and the others had arrived he had noticed several things that seemed off about the group, but up until this point he had just written it off as a side effect of having been out and about in a world where there probably weren’t a whole lot of ‘normal’ left.

Werewolves did explain a lot, like how they kept sniffing everything, why their hearing was so good and how they could eat so much damn food. In Stiles’ mind it was probably the food that did it. That and Cora’s little light show earlier with her eyes. As he looked out at the corner of his eye he could see where Scott was standing in the background looking at a stack of books that Stiles just knew he was going to topple to the ground at some point. When taking into account that Scott had been Stiles’ best friend for years, even when he was infected like this, werewolves weren’t that far a leap.

Stiles’ mind was running a mile a minute, so that he almost didn’t hear Derek’s answer.

“Yes”

Stiles nodded to himself before he registered what had been said. “Wait, really? You’re not messing with me?”

Derek huffed an exasperated breath. “No, Stiles.”

Stiles crossed his arms over his chest, briefly pushing his tongue against the inside of his cheek. “I don’t think I believe you”

“Seriously? You just asked if we’re werewolves, and now you don’t believe it” Derek exclaimed, eyebrows first lifting, then furrowing before smoothing out.

“I was joking about the werewolf thing!” Stiles huffed out on a nervous laugh.

Derek’s eyes dipped down to his chest before focusing on his face once again. “Your heart says you weren’t.”

“I…” Stiles started, before he thought better of it. He could feel his heartbeat speed up at the possibility of werewolves. There was a difference between entertaining a humorous thought and actual creatures of the night standing in his living room. “Prove it then” he said, feeling strangely like he was dreaming.

Derek nodded “Just… don’t freak out”

Stiles didn’t say anything, but pressed his lips together in an effort to contain his nerves and the nervous babble he could almost feel clogging up his throat. In any other situation, Stiles would have felt awkward about the way he was staring at Derek, but any and all awkwardness took a backseat at the possibility of actual werewolves.

It happened so suddenly that he almost missed it. Derek’s entire face changed. He grew fangs, his nose changed a bit, his eyes were glowing a bright red and…

“Dude, where did your eyebrows go!”


	10. The other half of the story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone :)
> 
> I'm so sorry for the long wait, I've had some hellish exams to get trough, but now they are all done! I know I say this every time I update, but hopefully I can start posting more frequently :D 
> 
> I hope that you enjoy this chapter. It't a bit of a filler, but strengthens the relationship between Stiles and the pack. Feel free to point out any mistakes there might be - I don't have a beta :)

“Dude, where did your eyebrows go!” Stiles couldn’t help but exclaim. Kira and Allison looked at him for a second before they both started laughing. Kira almost fell off the armchair from where she had taken a seat on the armrest. Stiles was honestly afraid that she might somehow manage to stab herself with her katanas.

Derek almost looked like he was pouting, and Stiles felt a little bit bad for his hasty exclamation. Derek might feel very insecure about his lack of eyebrows. After all, it was an impressive amount of eyebrow to make disappear. He should be proud. Now, that Stiles thought about it, he might be focusing on the eyebrows to distract himself from the actual werewolf standing in his living room.

“It isn’t a bad thing! The eyebrows that is!” Stiles hurried to explain. “You’re still a very werewolfy werewolf”.

The rest of the group were snickering quietly by now, and Stiles could feel his cheeks heat up. Derek made a quick rolling motion with his shoulders as he changed back. Stiles blinked rapidly and couldn’t help but exclaim “Holy shit! You’re a werewolf”. At that even Derek huffed out a laugh.

Hearing Derek laugh was so close to surreal that it almost overshadowed the revelation that he had a group (a pack?) of werewolves in his living room. Stiles was glad that his cheeks were already red, or his reaction to Derek’s laugh would have been much more noticeable.

He was vaguely aware of Isaac helping Allison up from the couch, Allision still laughing in between trying to tell Isaac that the baby was jumping on her bladder. They clambered up the stairs together. Isaac kept an arm around Allison’s waist, but Stiles could see his shoulders shaking with laughter.

Stiles couldn’t help it, and started fidgeting, while pulling on the strings of his hoodie. At least he had long since gotten rid of the habit of putting the strings in his mouth.

“Jesus kid, you like you’re about to explode” Chris said, voice tinted with worry.

“I might” Stiles breathed out. “Okay, I can’t stand it anymore, I have like a million questions, and you better answer them.” He finished by poking Derek in the chest, quite surprised by his own lack of fear.

Derek simply raised an eyebrow and pointedly looked down at the finger still touching his chest. Stiles quickly snatched his hand back, embarrassed by his own action more so than scared.

Stiles stifled the need to apologize, and instead he chose to sit down on the couch once more, folding his hands over his knees. He looked to Derek, waiting for him to take a seat again. When Derek merely remained standing staring at Stiles, Kira sighed and poked Derek in the back with her sheathed katana.

Derek sat down, and Stiles squirmed under the intense stare. “So… are you going to answer my questions?” Stiles asked, tearing his eyes away from Derek to look at the others in the room. Parrish was staring out the window, probably keeping an eye on Lydia, while Liam looked between Stiles and Derek with a confused expression. Mason was simply smirking. Stiles decided that he didn’t like that smirk, it was far too knowing.

“What do you want to know?” Derek asked, finally choosing to sit down again.

“Okay, well… how did you all become werewolves? Is it like something you turn into, or do you have to be born that way?”

Stiles was briefly afraid that Derek wouldn’t answer, but he seemed to be thinking it over. “You can either be born a werewolf or you can be turned by an alpha through a bite or in some cases a really deep scratch. There are three different types of werewolves; alphas, betas and omegas. The alpha is the leader of the pack.” Derek paused, and let his eyes flash a brilliant red before continuing. “Beta’s are werewolves in a pack lead by an alpha. A beta can also be an alpha’s second in command. Cora is my second. An omega is a lone wolf, a wolf without a pack”.

Stiles nodded along, glad that it reminded him of the hierarchy amongst actual wolves, as that might make it easier to understand. He wasn’t going to mention that to them, though.

Derek seemed to take him nodding as a sign to continue. “I’m a born wolf, as is Cora, but the rest of the pack are bitten wolves. Some of the pack members aren’t even wolves, and some are human”.

Stiles couldn’t help but interrupt, as he was quite sure that he had figured out how to distinguish the supernatural from the humans. “Mason, Allison and Chris are human?” He ventured to ask. He originally wanted to add Lydia to the mix, but something told him that he couldn’t.

Derek nodded once more, and Stiles could have sworn that he fleetingly saw a look akin to admiration in Derek’s eyes, but it might simply be wishful thinking on Stiles’ part.

“Okay… can you explain to me the basics of being a werewolf?” Stiles asked, feeling like Derek needed some prompting. “What are your superpowers? Are you like Superman? I feel like you would make a great superman. Turning all ‘grrr’ is a much better disguise than a pair of glasses, let me tell you. Or are you more like the hulk?” Stiles did his best Hulk impression “Angry wolf smash! And rip throat out with teeth!”

Kira, Mason and Liam snorted, while the rest of the room merely looked at him with furrowed brows. No one said anything, and Derek kept staring at him with his mouth a tiny bit open, revealing adorable bunny teeth. When no one answered, Stiles did his best to look like an attentive student ready to learn everything he could about the supernatural. He was pretty sure that he failed rather epically, and more resembled a rabbit on cocaine than a student.

Finally, Chris broke the silence. “They have enhanced senses, super strength and quick reflexes. They also have a rapid healing ability, as well as the ability to take other’s pain and feel pack bonds. They get affected by the full moon, but with a lot of practice they can learn to control themselves, though as far as I’ve understood they still prefer shifting and running around on the full moon.”

“So, the thing about the full moon is true, but what about silver? Do I need to hide my silverware?” Stiles joked, but it seemed to have an unintended effect as Chris only looked sad.

“No, silver won’t hurt them” Chris finally responded.

Stiles knew that he had hit a nerve, but he wasn’t quite sure what it was that he had said to make things so tense.

An uncomfortable silence settled for a moment or two before Kira cleared her throat. “Do you want to hear about kitsunes?”

“Yes!” Stiles couldn’t help but exclaim, almost falling of the couch in his hurry to move closer to where Kira was still balancing on the arm of an armchair.

There was a snort behind him, but he paid that no mind, instead sitting down on the sturdy coffee table, so that he was directly across from Kira. She blinked rapidly a couple of times before she broke into a wide smile. Stiles suddenly had an easier time understanding why Scott was so infatuated with her.

Stiles listened to Kira talk for quite some time, asking a bunch of questions, some of which weren’t exactly on topic, but Kira was good at steering the conversation back to something relevant. As Kira spoke Scott slowly moved to stand besides Stiles, placing a cold hand on his shoulder to help keep his balance. Stiles wrapped a steadying arm around Scott’s waist, even though he actually didn’t seem like he needed it. Stiles knew that Scott liked to be treated normally, and he had always been tactile.

“Wait,” Stiles said after a while, “So if you guys have super senses, what does the infected smell like to you?”

Kira cast an apologetic glance at Scott, but just as she was about to answer Liam interrupted her. “They stink like holy hell, all rotten and like decaying flesh and death”

Scott made a little punched out sound that sounded way too human to Stiles’ ears. He could feel Scott pulling away slightly, and tightened the grip he had around him to prevent it. Despite being one of the only humans in the room, Stiles was the one who felt like growling and he was entertaining the idea of some slight maiming, when he caught the look in Kira’s eyes. She looked about as pissed off as Stiles felt.

Mason was quick to elbow Liam in the side, and throw a not all that subtle nod in Scott’s direction. Liam seemed to understand after a couple of seconds, and his eyes went wide as panic became apparent across his face. Stiles would have liked to think that it was his own glare that made Liam so hasty to remedy the situation, but that was probably more Kira’s doing.

“Umm.. I mean, usually. Yeah, usually! The zom… infected usually smell quite a bit, but everyone here smells so much nicer. It’s like you can actually catch some of what they used to smell like.” Liam said, voice sincere even through his slight panic.

“It’s true.” Kira added. “Everyone here seems much more human than what we’ve previously seen. Not just Scott, but everyone in all of Beacon Hills. It’s like they’re changing at a much slower rate.”

“And why do you think that is? Any explanations Stiles?” Chris inquired.

Stiles’ mouth felt dry. The last eight years had been spent surviving, and trying very hard not to think too much about certain things. If he was honest, it had been much easier surviving than not thinking.

“I don’t…” Stiles paused, his brow furrowing, as he thought about what he could possibly say to describe something that he only half understood himself.

From over by the window Parrish spoke up. “They cleared out, Stiles. They just up and left!”, he was still looking out the window when Stiles turned to him in confusion.

Derek must have sensed his confusion, and cleared his throat before speaking. “The zombies in the mall, they all left. After you fainted there wasn’t a single zombie anywhere in the entire building. You know as well as I that you did that. You smelled like magic Stiles, powerful magic”.

“Like ozone” Kira piped up from where she was sitting, seemingly unaware of the effect Derek’s words were having on Stiles. He felt lightheaded, and he could feel the air passing more shallowly through his lungs.

“I’m not magic!” Stiles blurted out, still breathing more rapidly than he probably should. “Am I?”

Chris shrugged “You tell us”

“I’m not… I would know, right?” Stiles couldn’t help but look at everyone in the room, before his eyes finally landed on Derek.

“I didn’t know” came a voice from the door to the backyard. Stiles twisted in his seat so that he could see Lydia as she entered the living room. Cora leaned against the doorjamb, arms crossed over her chest.

Lydia sat next to him, taking one of his hands into hers. Once upon a time he would have been over the moon, but now he just squeezed, glad to have someone familiar, a friend.

“I stumbled my way through discovering who and what I truly was. I was scared, and half the time I simply ignored that part of me, just like you, most likely, are doing right now” Lydia said, and Stiles could feel himself slumping slightly under her gaze and at her words. “It became more difficult to ignore after the world fell apart. I would suddenly know which path to take to avoid the dead. I would know if someone was about to die or turn. Everyone from beacon hills was placed in the same camp after being evacuated. The first time someone got bitten in the camp, we had no idea that the sickness could be transmitted that way, but somehow, I knew. I begged them to keep her in isolation, but… who would listen to a twelve-year-old girl on such an important matter.”

Stiles swallowed the lump in his throat. “What happened?”

“Eighteen people died. She turned, and I screamed. She was all the way on the other side of the camp, but I just knew. The ones who heard me scream thought there was something wrong with me. They brought me to the doctor. Then the shooting began.”

Lydia wiped a tear from her eye, and sent Parrish a watery smile when he moved to comfort her. There must have been something in her smile as Parrish stayed where he was. Instead, Stiles chose to place his arm around Lydia’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that. That any of you had to endure the world out there” Stiles whispered, knowing they would hear him.

“Am I like you?” Stiles couldn’t help but ask.

Lydia snorted. “I thought the days of you copying me were long over”

Stiles laughed as well. “No way! Remember that day we wore matching dresses? I’ve never looked better” Stiles joked. Lydia giggled into his shoulder. “You did look pretty” she said, voice slightly muffled.

“I still have the pictures” Stiles admitted.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah”.

Chris rose from where he had sat down, and motioned for Liam and Mason to do the same. “We’ll make dinner” he announced, before he vanished into the kitchen.

“We don’t think you’re like Lydia” Derek said, “You smell different, and Lydia’s never been able to communicate with the dead quite like you do. Do you have any idea why they’re so docile?”

Stiles shrugged, careful not to dislodge Lydia from where she had her head on his shoulder. “I… When my mom… my mom was in the hospital long before all of this started. I was visiting her when the hospital was evacuated. I had fallen asleep in the chair besides her bed like usual, and when I woke up the infected were already in the hospital. I tried to block the door, but I wasn’t strong enough. She had these… episodes where she couldn’t remember people, and she’d get violent, so there wasn’t a lock on the door. That’s the same reason why her bathroom door was permanently locked. I picked her up from the bed, adrenalin I guess, and moved as far away from the door as possible.” Stiles paused to pick once more at his fraying jeans. He really should have taken a new pair, when they had been at the mall.

“What did you do when they came into the room?” Kira asked carefully.

Stiles couldn’t help but laugh a little, “I yelled at them”

“You yelled at them” Derek deadpanned.

Stiles nodded. “I yelled at them to leave us alone… and they’ve left me alone ever since. I was so preoccupied that I barely noticed when my mother stopped breathing” Stiles rubbed roughly at his forehead with his free hand, before dragging his hand downwards over his mouth. His other hand was still clasped with Lydia’s.

“So, it’s every time you speak or yell?” Lydia asked, “can you think of another instance where something similar happened?”

“Once some of the infected broke into the school, and started eating my animals. I got so angry, and basically just kicked them out, all the while yelling at them. I had to put down a lot of the animals as I didn’t know whether they were infected or not.”

“And they’ve left the animals alone since?” Kira asked.

Stiles shrugged. “More or less, but I’m not taking any chances”

“Cocoa-beans” Cora suddenly said, from where she was still standing in the doorway leading to the backyard. Upon receiving mostly blank faces in return, she sighed, and muttered ‘idiots’.

Lydia suddenly sat up straighter. “Stiles do you grow cocoa-beans?”. Stiles merely nodded, not quite sure what that had to do with anything. “Stiles, it’s not nearly warm enough to grow cocoa-beans in the school, certainly not at this time of year, at least. You most likely shouldn’t be able to grow them at all. How are they doing? Are they thriving?”

“Yeah, they’re fine”.

Lydia nodded her head, “Okay, so I’ll take an educated guess, and say that you aren’t a necromancer.”

Mason’s voice rang out from the kitchen, “Kira, you owe me a day without the poncho-backpack.”

Kira cursed quietly, but she still had Stiles’ attention. “You bet on me?”

Kira looked down, a blush coloring her cheeks. Stiles didn’t know whether to be slightly offended or laugh. He settled for laughing. “I want in on this bet, then”

Lydia arched an eyebrow. “You want in on a bet, concerning what species you belong to? You really haven’t changes at all have you?”

“Not where it counts” he couldn’t help but remark. “So, I need to do some research. I know literally next to nothing about different supernatural creatures. I know the basics, but none of them seem to apply.”

Chris walked out of the kitchen, arms laden with food. “Research later, food now”

Stiles clapped his hands in joy. It had been so long since anyone other than himself had made dinner, and he was excited to see what they had made.

Dinner was a noisy affair, but the food was good, and laughter sounded more frequently than anything else. Derek even laughed once, and Stiles was pretty sure that that was one of the best things he heard the entire evening.

Once everything had quieted down, Chris cleared his throat catching Stiles’ attention. “So, you wanted to talk to me about something you wanted to build?”

“Oh, yeah! I’ve long had this idea of turning the old lacrosse field into a sort of pasture for some of the animals. They need the sun, and the grass would be good for them too. Might give some problems with more diseases, but I’m ready to tackle those.”

Chris nodded along, but Stiles couldn’t really tell if he thought the idea was good or not. Allison was asleep on Isaac’s shoulder, while he spoke quietly with Jordan. Finally, Chris nodded, drawing Stiles’ attention back to him.

“I think it’s a good idea, but we have to find a way to make sure no zombies can enter the field from the woods. I’m guessing that you already have some ideas?”

“Yeah, a few, but I’ve never had the manpower to execute them. I’ve salvaged some planks and rafts from fences, sheds and the like.”

Derek pushed his plate further onto the table. “How about we look into that tomorrow? I think we should all get some sleep.” He nodded to the sofa, where Liam and Mason had also just nodded off, leaning against each other.

Stiles smiled a bit, as he was reminded of himself and Scott. They used to have sleepovers practically every weekend, and they always ended up asleep on the couch.

Isaac carried Allison to Stiles’ dad’s room, where they had taken to sleeping, and then came downstairs to help the others clear the table. Stiles was surprised by how calm he had been about someone sleeping in his dad’s room, but he suspected that it might have something to do with Allison’s dimples.

Stiles packed up some of the leftover food for the dogs at the station. He was actually surprised that there was even food left, but he supposed that Chris had been with the group long enough to know how much food was needed to feed them all.

Kira had snuggled down in her sleeping bag on the living room floor, and was having a somewhat sleepy conversation with Scott, whose eyes were the very definition of heart eyes. Stiles was rather proud of Scott’s progress when it came to facial expressions.

Stiles shuffled over to Scott and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Why don’t you let Kira sleep for a bit, and we can go sleep in my room, okay?”

Scott didn’t respond, but he stood up and moved towards the stairs. Stiles said goodnight to those still awake, and moved towards the stairs himself, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Derek was standing behind him, much closer than anticipated, and Stiles almost tumbled backwards over the first step of the stairs.

“I… I wanted to thank you… again. I talked to Lydia, and… I know that we’ve invaded your life, and probably changed the way you view a few things. I wanted to thank you for the way you reacted. You don’t really know any of us, perhaps with the exception of Lydia, but you’ve been… kind and… understanding the entire time we’ve been here… so thank you”.

Stiles swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. “I… wow. I want to thank you as well… I know that accepting Scott couldn’t have been easy, and now that we’re being all mushy, I thought you should know that I really appreciate it, and I know he does too. So… um… Goodnight I guess?” Stiles scratched at his nose feeling awkward.

Derek smiled. It was a small smile, but so warm and sincere that it made something flutter deep in Stiles’ stomach. “Goodnight Stiles”

Stiles nodded, not wanting to turn around and miss any of Derek’s smile. Finally, he turned around, afraid that Derek would catch him starring. He missed a step on the stairs, still replaying the moment Derek smiled over and over in his mind. As he caught himself to avoid faceplanting he thought he heard Derek laughing quietly behind him; What a jerk.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so very sorry for the long wait! I had no idea that it had been that long since I last updated. Life has just been such a whirlwind lately... I won't bore you with all that, as it's mostly the usual college/finals stuff :) 
> 
> I had such difficulty with this chapter, and I was stuck for so long. I hope it isn't too obvious while reading it that I had some problems along the way. It's probably the chapter I've edited the most, and even now I'm not completely happy with it, but what can you do ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and can forgive me for going so long without posting :)

Stiles was jerked awake as a huge crash sounded from down the stairs. He tumbled out of bed still wrapped in his sheets and cursing all the while. After a few frantic seconds of trying to free himself, he was finally able to make it to his bedroom door, and down the stairs. Scott hadn’t been there when he woke up, and Stiles could feel panic clawing its way through his chest.

He skidded to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, brain frantically trying to catch up or make any sense of what he was seeing.

There was light pink goop covering a vast amount of the floor, and a trail leading from the mess and into the kitchen.

“Um” Stiles muttered, still starring at the mess. Just as he was about to see if he could find a clear path to the kitchen Scott and Kira came stumbling out of the kitchen doorway, Scott clumsily clutching a mop between his hands.

“Stiileess” Scott practically squeaked, dropping the mop on the floor, making pink goop splash up into the air. Stiles could feel some of it hitting his face, and frantically wiped at his cheek. ‘Huh’, he thought. It actually smelled a bit like… cake? Kira had busied herself with picking up the mop and had started to mop the floor, more or less successfully. Scott was still starring at him, and if Stiles didn’t know better he would say that a small blush was coloring Scott’s cheeks.

Stiles eventually just shrugged and took the chance. He quickly licked the goop from his hand and was glad when he was proven right. It was cake batter. Thank god! He had always been too curious for his own good, but at least this time it turned out okay.

“So… any particular reason why there’s batter all over the floor?” he asked, with the taste of it still lingering in his mouth.

Kira straightened up and looked at Scott from the corner of her eye before answering. “I… um…you see”, Kira sighed. “Allison mentioned last night that she had this craving for cake, and I just thought… sorry.” She almost looked like she was about to cry.

“Woah, Kira, I’m not mad! Not even a little bit! This actually looks like something I would’ve done.” Stiles said, fidgeting.

“Really? But I wasted food!” Kira exclaimed, voice gaining a bit more strength. She almost slipped in some of the batter and had to cling to the mop to avoid falling over. If Stiles had still been afraid of the supernaturals in any way, this might have cured him of that fear. And if seeing Kira looking like a deer on ice wasn’t enough, the heart eyes Scott was sending in her direction certainly would have been.

“Yeah, really. Just ask Scott.” Stiles flung his arms out towards Scott, who was quick to nod and even uttered, “It’s true”.

Kira smiled, and Stiles swore that Scott almost swooned. Together they eventually got the floor all cleaned up, even though Scott mostly trailed after Kira, making sure that the bucket of water for the mop was within her reach. Kira was in the process of putting away the mop as Stiles started to grab another round of ingredients to make a new cake.

When Kira came back into the kitchen she looked over the now crowded kitchen counter. “What are you doing?” Stiles couldn’t help but snort, because she actually sounded rather confused.

“Umm… cake? For Allison?”

Kira blinked quickly a couple of times, before squealing and throwing her arms around him. He patted her back lightly, as she squeezed so hard he could barely breathe.

“Kira! Fragile human here, don’t squish meeee” He whined, making sure that the humor he felt could be heard in his voice. He didn’t want to give her the impression that he was scared.

“You don’t have to do that you know” Kira remarked laughingly, after having let go.

“Do what?” Stiles asked, starting to pour some of the ingredients into a clean bowl.

“We all know that you aren’t afraid of us. We don’t really get why you aren’t, but that’s another matter. Our sense of smell is so well developed that we can smell… emotions, chemo signals and the likes.” She shrugged.

“You can smell, my emotions!?!” Stiles whisper yelled, hands pausing their movements. “I thought you just had like an above average sense of smell, this is so embarrassing!” Stiles could feel his face starting to heat up. He couldn’t even imagine what sort of chemo signals they might have sensed from him. It wasn’t his fault that their entire pack was made up of preternaturally beautiful people!

Kira laughed, and belatedly went to hug Scott, who seemed dumbfounded that she would hug him as well. Their hug lasted a bit longer than the one she had given Stiles, and he dutifully turned around and focused on the cake. When he turned around again, both Kira and Scott were gone, but Derek was leaning against the door-jamb, arms crossed.

“Kira told me that you had some questions?” Derek asked, his head tilting in an inquisitive way. Stiles had to hold back a smile. It was by far the most comfortable and ‘soft’ Stiles had seen Derek look since the pack had arrived.

It took some time before what Derek had said actually registered, and now Stiles couldn’t help but be the one to tilt his head. He was sure that he could find something to ask about, as he still had about a million unanswered questions, but he was pretty sure that that wasn’t what Kira had meant.

Derek uncrossed his arms, and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “From your blank expression, I’m guessing that you didn’t really have a question, after all,” he sighed. Stiles thought he could heard Derek mutter something, but it was unintelligible to him.

Stiles flailed his arms around a bit, unsure of what to do. Finally, he cleared his throat. “Hey, do you wanna maybe help me bake this cake for Allison? It could be sort of a bonding moment – leader to leader.”

Derek raised an eyebrow, no doubt at the leader part, but Stiles remained unapologetic. He merely shrugged, and turned to face the kitchen table, turning his back on Derek. He tried to feign indifference, but couldn’t stop his heart from beating a bit faster than he would have liked. He could hear a quietly huffed laugh, and then Derek appeared at his side, washing his hands in the sink. Derek turned towards the apron hanging on a hook next to the door, sniffing the air before, leaving it hanging on its hook.

Stiles couldn’t help but shoot him a questioning look. Sure, the apron had belonged to his mother, but after all these years, there was no way that Derek had been able to scent that, right?

“Can you?” Stiles started to ask, but stopped when he heard how fragile his voice had suddenly become. Even after all these years.

Derek looked at him with soft eyes, making Stiles want to either hide or maybe give Derek a hug. “I…,” Derek started, “I can smell just a bit of a woman’s scent, so I thought?” He squared his jaw, and shrugged awkwardly. Stiles bit down on his lower lip to hide a smile. It seemed that no matter the topic, Derek was still able to make him smile, just being his growly awkward secretly sweet self.

“It’s fine, Derek”

Derek still looked awkward, but his shoulders loosened up a bit. “What do you need me to help with?” Stiles huffed out a breath, and immediately set Derek to work. They worked in companionable silence until they were ready to put the cake in the oven. About half way through the clean-up, Derek cleared his throat, “It’s nice of you to do this for Allison. I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.”

Now it was Stiles’ turn to shrug awkwardly. “Where is Allison anyways? Did they finally settle on a house they wanted?”

Derek nodded, drying his hands on a dishtowel. “Yeah, they’re right next door,” he tilted his head slightly, “they just agreed that they want to stay there, if that’s okay? They would like to stay close to…everyone.”

“Sure, that’s fine! I’ll just go over there in a bit, and find another temporary place for my neighbor. Have they been inside the house? With the ponchos?”

Derek nodded, but he suddenly looked deep in thought. “Your ability with the dead really is… remarkable,” he finally mumbled.

Stiles snorted, raising his eyebrows at Derek. A small blush started to creep its way across Derek’s cheeks and Stiles almost swooned. It wasn’t fair that he could look so hot and so adorable at the same time.

“Are you blushing?!” he couldn’t help but exclaim, voice raising a couple of octaves due to his excitement at the sight. If anything, this seemed to further the spread of rosy red currently covering Derek’s face. “You are! That is so adorable” Stiles said, practically bouncing on his feet.

Derek’s eyebrows furrowed, looming over the rest of his face like his own personal thundercloud. “Shut up” he barked, but Stiles could have sworn that he saw the smallest of up-ticks from the corner of his mouth.

Stiles merely kept grinning at him, and would probably have been able to stand like that for hours, staring at him, if it wasn’t for the oven timer going off. They both reacted at the same time, and turned towards the oven and away from each other.

Stiles’ heart was beating faster than he would have liked. Hopefully Derek thought that it was due to the timer going off and nothing else. He quickly pulled on the oven gloves, turned off the oven, and took the cake out. Somehow, he still managed to burn his fingers slightly.

“Hey,” Stiles said to get Derek’s attention. “Can you call them all over here? For the cake?” he asked, idly inspecting the cake while slipping his index finger into his mouth to soothe the burn.

When Derek didn’t react, Stiles looked up, only to find him blushing once more, his mouth hanging open slightly, revealing bunny teeth. God, he was so adorable! After two minutes it became slightly less adorable, and more along the lines of creepy, when Derek still hadn’t said anything or moved even an inch.

“Derek?” Stiles questioned, and despite his better judgement he reached out his hand intending to poke Derek in the face. Sometimes he just couldn’t help himself.

Quicker than lightning Derek reached out, catching Stiles’ hand mind air. The warmth of his fingers encircled Stiles’ wrist, while his thumb rested in the center of Stiles’ palm. Stiles swallowed the lump in his throat, for once not able to find a single word.

“They heard,” Derek said, voice low. “They’re on their way now” he continued, before letting go of Stiles’ wrist in a manner that Stiles was sure he was imagining as reluctant.

Not two seconds after, Stiles could hear the front door open, and Derek scowled slightly before he went to join them in the living room. Through the open door Stiles saw that Scott and Kira had rejoined the party from wherever they had disappeared to.

Stiles looked at the cake for a second, wishing that he had something to make it more special or more decorative. In the end he decided that it would just have to do. That anyone was even around to bake a cake at all would have to be special enough.

After putting on the oven mitts once again, Stiles carried the cake into the living room, setting it down on the coffee table. Allison looked at the cake with wide eyes, sniffing the air much less delicately than Stiles would have thought her capable of. Isaac rubbed at Allison’s shoulders and mouthed a ‘thank you’ over her head.

“I’ll get plates,” Kira exclaimed, bouncing into the kitchen.

“Do you know where they are?” Stiles yelled into the kitchen, still not used to the fact that they could hear him even if he was whispering.

It was Parrish who answered. “Yeah, she does. Liam broke a plate earlier”. Liam looked up sharply with a loud “Hey”, before he suddenly looked at Stiles with a sheepish smile. “Sorry” he said. Stiles merely flapped a hand around, indicating that he shouldn’t worry.

Kira quickly returned with the plates, and the cake was distributed evenly among them all. Allison practically inhaled her cake, and rewarded Isaac with a small chocolaty kiss when he offered her half of his cake. Stiles could imagine that pregnancy cravings were hellish when most food was no longer accessible.

When everyone had practically licked their plates, even Cora, who looked very unhappy about the fact, Chris cleared his throat. “Stiles, I’ve been surveying the lacrosse field, and I think that your idea to build a pasture could work. It’ll take some time, if we want to make sure that the dead can’t get in, but I think it’s a good idea.”

Stiles couldn’t help but jump a bit in his seat. He had wanted to build something like that for ages, but had never had the manpower to properly execute it. “Awesome!” he exclaimed loudly, smiling at Chris who seemed a bit surprised at his reaction, though Stiles had no idea why.

The rest of the group started pitching ideas about how it could be built, where the materials should come from, as well as who should help built it. While the others were discussing, Allison gestured for Stiles to follow her down the hallway. He quietly got up and followed, but he could feel someone’s eyes at the back of his head. When he looked behind him however, no one was paying him any attention.

Logically, he knew that almost everyone gathered in the living room would still be able to hear whatever Allison wanted to discuss with him, but it still made him feel more comfortable that they weren’t all right next to him.

When they reached the end of the hallway, Allison turned around and looked at him. A small shiver ran down his back, and he slowly shifted his weight from one foot to the other and back again.

“I just wanted to say thank you” Allison began, and from the general vibe she had been giving of, that was not what Stiles was expecting. “For the cake, but also for how you’ve treated us all. When I first found out about the supernatural I didn’t react very well”. She whispered slowly, as if she had to force herself to speak. “It’s all in the past, but I still appreciate the way you’ve handled all this. It would have been completely understandable if you had freaked out a bit more. For a second you had my dad convinced that you already knew, and that you were a hunter. How else could you have survived all this, we thought. But, you’re nothing like we expected or feared, and I want to thank you for that too. It might not make sense to you, but we all, some more than others, just needed to feel like there’s still good people in this world, and you’re proof that there are.” She cut herself off. “Sorry, I’m rambling a bit, and this must not make any sense to you… I just needed to get all that of my chest. Some people in the group have been treated badly, and for a while, I played a part in that, so it’s nice to see old wounds slowly healing… you know?” She looked up at him eyes gleaming with unshed tears, but also a fierce determination.

Stiles nodded, even though his thoughts kept running in circles and clashing into each other in an effort to make sense of what Allison had said. He got the feeling that it wasn’t so much about him understanding as it was about her getting something of her chest.

Allison nodded once, and quickly swiped a hand under her one eye, even though Stiles hadn’t been able to see a tear. She offered him a smile, and once again said, “thank you for the cake”.

Unsure what to do, Stiles went with his instincts, mumbled a “You’re welcome” and kissed her forehead briefly. It was a friendly gesture that his mother had always been fond of.

Allison excused herself to the bathroom, saying with contrived lightness in her voice that the baby was laying on her bladder. Stiles turned on his heal and fled back to the living room, eyes quickly darting from one place to the next, while he tried to decipher the feeling jostling around in his stomach. She thought so much of him. They all believed that he was good person.

Stiles just hoped that he could live up to that.


End file.
